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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23916010">Zero Gravity</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrES_4b/pseuds/TrES_4b'>TrES_4b</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Space, Angst, Character Development, Character Growth, Dialogue Heavy, Don't Take This Too Seriously, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Gen, Humor, I have no idea where I want this to go, Like with earth n stuff, M/M, Multi, Murder Mystery, Mutual Pining, OOC?, On one hand, Pining, Serious, Slow Burn, Slow To Update, Theyre on a space station, Theyre still clones tho, This is written like a tv show I just realized, actually more humor than I intended, also, except Stak/Razor theyre already together, i cant decide, maybe smut, meme references, no set POV, now that I know what it is I can tag it, on the other, probably</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 20:14:01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>29,544</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23916010</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrES_4b/pseuds/TrES_4b</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>I can't summarize but I'll try my best.</p><p>There has been a murder on the Resolute and Rex is determined to find the person responsible. Cody wants to help, but he is dealing with his own problems and thinks he is just a burden.</p><p>When their communication is cut the clones on the station are left on their own. </p><p> </p><p>-</p><p>Everything important to know about this AU is in the 1st chapter.</p><p>-</p><p>Looks like this is on hold right now huh</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>CC-1138 | Bacara/CC-8826 | Neyo, CC-2224 | Cody/CT-7567 | Rex, CT-1284 | Spark/Blackout (Clone Wars), Stak (Star Wars)/Razor (Star Wars), there might be more - Relationship</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>21</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. This looks bad</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Basic things to know to understand what the F is going on:</p><p>They are on a space station, most similar to Talos 1, called the Resolute (surprise surprise) that is orbiting Mars.</p><p>The station is divided in 4 major stations and they have different sub-departments. Every station has a director and the departments have a Head of Department. </p><p>Everything else should be understandable through context.</p><p>Also, english is not my first language bla bla who cares. Enjoy the fic.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"What was his name?"<br/>
"No name. Has been CT-2911 since he started working with us." </p><p>They, Rex, Cody and Bly were standing around their dead comrade. A small group of other clones was standing a few meters behind them, watching. They had abandoned their work to look, to see, what was going on. Much to their supervisors disapproval, who appeared behind them. A quick command and everyone got back to their work. </p><p>"This is... horrific," Cody stated with a shake of his head. How could anyone do this? Murder one of their own?</p><p>"Why was he here in the first place?" Rex looked over to the clone who had joined them, who had sent the others away. </p><p>"Clones from Power Management often come here. When they have to repair or check something," Neyo explained, almost defensive. It looked like he really didn't want to be here, or be associated with it. </p><p>"Did anyone give him the command to come here?" This question was directed to Bly, who just shook his head.</p><p>"Negative. He probably wanted to check something for himself." Bly sighed and rubbed his head with his hands. He was not prepared for this, couldn't handle it. To see one of his men, dead. It was too much. </p><p>"I'm... I'm gonna leave." His steps faded in the distance. </p><p>There was a moment of silence laying between them, until Neyo broke it. </p><p>"Is there any reason for the body to stay? I want my men focused on their work. This is just going to distract them."</p><p>Cody and Rex both looked at Neyo, in shock. </p><p>"You are aware that someone just died here, right?" Cody couldn't believe it. This guy acted like this was just a minor inconvenience. </p><p>"Kix is on his way," Rex intervened, before any if them could start a debate.</p><p>And it didn't take long until Kix showed up, accompanied by one of the nurses, Boro. </p><p>They pulled CT-2911 on a tray and tied him up, laid a blanket over the body. </p><p>"The Medical Center is on the other side of the station. We will have to take the tunnels, to avoid any spectators," Kix explained and asked Rex for permission. They would have to tell the Wolfpack about the incident, as they were in charge of the tunnels, but if they were the only ones, Rex had no problem with them using the tunnels. </p><p>Kix and Boro pulled the tray to a lock and disappeared behind it.</p><p>Rex turned to Neyo.</p><p>"No word, to anyone. Tell your men to stay silent about this. We don't want a mass panic here."</p><p>Neyo hummed a word of understanding and watched them leave. </p><p>-</p><p>Rex and Cody were heading to the Security Department. If this really was a murder and not just an accident, then there had to be an investigation. They needed to find the murderer, before anything similar to this happened again.</p><p>"We have to tell the other directors. There is no way around that. With none of the station directors present, we...," Cody didn't finish his sentence and stared at the floor. </p><p>"One thing after another. I'll tell Fox about the situation. He and the other detectives will start the investigation. Meanwhile, you go and tell Bacara and Thorn to come to the Director's Office. We will discuss everything from there." </p><p>Rex stopped in his tracks and put a hand on Cody's shoulder. He had this look on his face, Cody knew it to well. That look, that everything will be fine. Everything will be alright again. </p><p>Cody took Rex' hand and then they parted ways.</p><p>-</p><p>Rex entered the Security Department. It was mostly empty, but that was usually the case. General security were all in their allocated departments and the Weapon Specialists were all in the Mechanical Laboratory. The detectives were the only ones present, as well as Fox, who was sitting in his office. </p><p>Rex greeted the detectives, Jesse and Stone, and knocked on the door of the office. </p><p>Fox opened the door, confused. Rex rarely showed up in the Security Department.</p><p>"What is it?"  </p><p>Rex turned around, the detectives were occupied, weren't listening to them. But he lowered his voice anyway.</p><p>"Someone died in the Mechanical Laboratory. We're not sure if it's a murder or not, but you should take a look at it."</p><p>Fox inhaled sharply. Shock and disbelief were written across his face. He opened his mouth, but only silence escaped him.</p><p>"Take as many people as you need with you. Neyo will show you the crime scene. But be careful, we don't want a mass panic in the station." </p><p>Fox nodded slowly and leaned against the door, that he had closed behind him. It seemed that he needed a moment, to process the information. Rex gave him the moment and headed outside of the department, leaving Fox alone and in charge of the investigation.</p><p>-</p><p>Rex was the last one to enter the Director's Office. Cody was sitting in a chair, Thorn was standing in front of the big wall of glass, that provided a good look down to the lobby. Bacara seemed to be the most collected of them all. </p><p>"Rex? What is going on? Cody told us something bad happened." Thorn left his place and joined Rex at the director's desk. Bacara and Cody followed not soon after. </p><p>"And for some reason he couldn't tell us what it was," Bacara added, almost annoyed. Cody gave him a look. </p><p>"With the directors not present, the station is under our command. That's why it is important, that we are all up to date," Rex explained, crossing his arms in front of the chest. </p><p>"What is the problem Rex?" Bacara was impatient.</p><p>"You know what I'm wondering, Bacara?As the director of the Research and Development Center, you should already know what is going on. Or did Neyo really tell you nothing? Because it always seems like-" </p><p>Rex raised a hand.<br/>
"Stop it, Cody. Neyo had the order to not tell anyone. And that's what he did." </p><p>Cody sighed, annoyed, but kept quiet. So did Bacara, who seemed to harm Cody just with his looks. Before the situation could get out of hand, Rex stated the issue.</p><p>"We found a body in the Mechanical Laboratory. It could have been an accident, but I have sent Fox and his men to start an investigation." </p><p>"You found a what?" Thorn didn't believe Rex at first, but by the look of his face, this was serious.<br/>
"Oh my God...," he whispered to himself. </p><p>"In the Mechanical Laboratory? Why have I not been told that sooner?" Baraca put both his hands on the desk and shot Rex an angry glance. </p><p>"Because as I said, Neyo had the order to not tell anyone," Rex explained, voice calm as always.</p><p>"And why exactly are you giving orders to my men?" </p><p>"We have the same rank, Bacara. You could give orders to the Safety Ordnance as well."</p><p>While Bacara seemed not happy with that answer, he didn't have anything to say against that, so he went silent.</p><p>"Could we please focus on the fact, that someone got killed?" Cody raised his voice, looked around between Rex and Bacara.</p><p>"I will tell Matchstick to forbid the takeoff of shuttles. Just in case," Thorn said, arms crossed. Rex nodded.</p><p>"I am going to keep all of you updated. And I am asking you, to keep things discreet. We don't want a mass panic."</p><p>Thorn and Bacara left the room and Cody moved from his place, so he was standing right next to Rex.</p><p>"Should we contact the directors?" he asked.<br/>
"I mean, this is a serious matter. Skywalker and Kenobi should be informed about this." </p><p>Rex turned to Cody.</p><p>"Later. When Fox and the detectives can confirm that it was in fact, a homicide."</p><p>"And if it's not a homicide?" </p><p>Rex sighed. "Listen, Cody. We have this under control. They will know soon enough." </p><p>-</p><p>The Communication Center was quiet around these hours. Most of the staff were in their quarters, only Stak, Razor and their security guard, Droidbait, were present. But it looked like he was about to leave as well. </p><p>"It's so boring. Like, literally, why can't we just leave, too?" Razor complained and leaned back in his chair. He was staring at the monitor in front of him, which showed no messages of interest. CST was something around 2 AM, which means there was no reason to believe, that something important would happen.</p><p>"Because Earth is sooo important. Can't lose sight of it for a second." Stak was sharing his discomfort. They had been awake for way too long, but Ponds, their supervisor, insisted they could handle another shift. </p><p>It wasn't that bad, when their security guard left they had the entire center for themselves. Just the two of them, all alone. It had its perks, but they were too tired to pull any use of it.</p><p>Behind them, Droidbat shifted from one foot to another. He was unsure how to adress the fact, that he wanted to leave real bad. In the end, he just sighed and told them, that he would be back soon enough and that they could probably handle their own. </p><p>The door closed behind him with a hiss and it was even quieter than before. </p><p>Stak and Razor both looked outisde the big glass that was in front of them. From the current location of the Resolute, they could see the Earth in the distance.<br/>
Everything was quiet and peaceful. </p><p>Razor looked over to Stak, who opened his arms, inviting. He hesitated for a moment, a quick glance at the door. But who would want to enter the Communication Center at this time anyway? </p><p>Razor stood up and sat down in Stak's lap, arms wrapped around his back. He rested his head on his shoulder and closed his eyes. It was soothing, listening to his lover's calm breath. </p><p>They were sitting in this position for a while, slowly drifting off, but before any of them could really fall asleep, a warning sound echoed through the center.</p><p>Both of them, highly alerted, raised their heads, Razor quickly standing up and looking to the door. It was closed and Stak touched his arm. He turned around, a big red and flashing sign was displayed on Stak's monitor. But not just his. They quickly realized, that every monitor showed this sign.</p><p>"'Communication interrupted'...," Stak read aloud and looked at his partner, who was just as confused. </p><p>Their attention was quickly caught by the satellite dish, that was drifting off into the void of space, accompanied by other debris. </p><p>They stared in terror. All their communication was cut, broken. Even their spare antennas, everything. It was all floating away. </p><p>There was no communication left, they had tried. They had tried to contact Earth, or Mars. Even the Gateway or the Moon. Nothing worked. Internal communication only. </p><p>Stak and Razor sprinted out of the Communication Center.</p><p>-</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Life Provision Rundown</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Cody takes a look at his departments.</p><p>Takeoff Station is not happy about the shuttle ban.</p><p>Rex keeps investigating.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"The satellite dish was just... floating away?"</p><p>"Yes."</p><p>"We are pretty sure, someone tore it off."</p><p>Stak and Razor couldn't believe why Rex was so sceptical about that. Well yes, something like that didn't happen every day, but that doesn't mean it never happens.</p><p>"It was sabotaged. The Security Department has to take a look at that! Like... We can't communicate with Earth. Or Mars or anyone. Someone did that on purpose."</p><p>Rex sighed. This was no longer just an incident. He was sure that multiple people were behind this, and they had some greater plan which Rex couldn't identify.</p><p>"Is Ponds informed about this?"</p><p>"We wanted to tell him," Razor replied.</p><p>"But he is probably still asleep and then we ran into you. As the Director of the Safety Ordnace we thought it would be just as important to inform you about the situation," Stak added. </p><p>Rex took a good look at both of them. They were in shock, obviously, but it seemed honest. He imagined some one of the Communication Center could be guilty of this, as they had the most knowledge about when and how many staff were present at the center at all times. He needed Fox to look at that, so they could determine if the communication was torn off or dismantled. </p><p>"You two are going to head to Ponds' quarter and explain everything to him. I will take care of everything else," Rex quickly explained.</p><p>Stak and Razor looked at each other for a moment and walked past Rex, in the direction of the Crew Quarters. Their hasty steps faded in the distance. </p><p>Rex pulled up his comm.</p><p>"Fox?"</p><p>"You're lucky I wasn't sleeping," he replied.</p><p>"I need you to gather the detectives and come to airlock seven."</p><p>"Seven?" Fox repeated. "That's in CC."</p><p>"Exactly."</p><p>Rex ended the conversation and made his way to the Communication Center to wait for Fox and his men.</p><p>-</p><p>The next morning, Cody walked through the hallways of the station. He wanted to check in on his departments, mainly the Power Generation and Management. After they had lost someone, he wanted to make sure that they were working as usual. </p><p>He opened the door, the noise of machines running and working was way louder than before. The generators were all placed at the side of the walls, in the middle of the room was an empty space, mostly filled with monitors, computers and seating. A few cables were spread across the floor.</p><p>Chaos, the security guard of this department, greeted him and told him, that if he was searching for Bly, he needed to take the stairs up, as Bly was currently fixing an issue with some of the pipes, together with Deviss. </p><p>Cody thanked him and took a few steps further into the room. Everyone seemed occupied with something and a lot of the staff weren't actually here. Most of them were working together with other departments, to repair or check stuff outside of this room. </p><p>He greeted one of the engineers and took the stairs, walking towards Bly and Deviss, who had various different tools scattered across the catwalk. </p><p>"Director," Deviss said, surprised and shook Bly on the shoulder. He turned around as well and greeted Cody.</p><p>"Is there anything you need?" Bly asked, signaling that Deviss should continue working, and he did. </p><p>"No. I just wanted to see if everything is back to normal," Cody replied.</p><p>"Well, it's as good as it can get after... the incident. There were few arguments, but we are doing fine most of the time." </p><p>Cody nodded. That was good. He expected everyone to be a little more downcast, but was positively surprised, to see things continue like always.</p><p>"Um,... Bly?" A new voice spoke. </p><p>They turned around. In front of them, nervously fidgeting with his hands, Flash. He was the one taking care of the solar panels of the station. </p><p>"What is it, Flash?"</p><p>"Inc told me that we're not getting enough energy and said, it was because on of the solar panles is badly damaged. I need more people for that job," he stated the problem.</p><p>"You can ask the Mechanical Lab for help."</p><p>Flash seemed hesitant for a moment, his eyes looking from one spot to the other. But then he nodded, and walked back to the stairs.</p><p>"Nobody wants to go to the Mechanical Lab anymore," Deviss noted.</p><p>"I can understand. As long as we don't run into problems because of that, it's fine," Cody replied, arms crossed and watching Flash nervously exit the room.</p><p>"I'm gonna leave, then. Good luck with that pipe." Cody waved and made his way down the stairs. </p><p>The Powergeneration and Management Department seems to be fine. But Cody wanted to look at his other departments as well, just in case. Most of them didn't know about the incident, but Cody wanted to make sure that they were okay. They were his men after all.</p><p>-</p><p>"What do you mean by 'no shuttle takeoffs'?" </p><p>"It's not my decision. Thorn doesn't want that, and he is our supervisor. Which means we don't question his orders."</p><p>Matchstick sighed. He had expected this reaction from his pilots. </p><p>"Listen, until Thorn says otherwise we are only going to receive cargo and not deliver. Understand?"</p><p>The pilots hummed a word of agreement and then parted ways.<br/>
The Docking and Takeoff Station was one of the Resolute's strongest departments. None of them understood, why they were suddenly not allowed to deliver anymore. </p><p>"So that means everyone can take a time off while we, the engineers, have to keep working?" Contrail looked at Matchstick and then at Broadside. Neither of them were engineers.</p><p>"Exactly. I wish you a lot of fun," Broadside replied, heading straight out of the station. </p><p>Contrail, as well as Tag and Flyby, the system engineers, turned around and got back to their work.</p><p>A similar situation occurred with Axe, who was a pilot, Swoop and Kickback, who were responsible for fuel management, and Tucker and Slammer, the board engineers. </p><p>"Unfair," Tucker stated, as he watched Axe, Swoop and Kickback leaving. He and Slammer returned to their work as well. </p><p>The Station got more and more empty, until they were only two people left. Blackout, a pilot, and Spark, a board engineer.</p><p>"This is stupid," Blackout said, arms crossed. He threw a yearning look to all their shuttles, that were just going to stay there for weeks. Untouched, still, almost decaying.</p><p>"Spark was it?" He turned around to the board engineer. </p><p>"Yes, um, do you need something?" Spark replied, almost nailing a professional tone. </p><p>"Actually yes." Blackout looked around, but there was no one near them. He got a little closer, voice low.</p><p>"Could you prepare a shuttle?"</p><p>Spark frowned. Did he hear that correctly? Did Blackout not hear the clear ban of shuttles from Matchstick?</p><p>"Excuse me?" </p><p>"You heard me."</p><p>Blackout looked at him, eyes big and pleading. Spark has only been working in Takeoff for a short time, but he knew Blackout was no one who pleads, ever. So, what was playing right before his eyes seemed unbelievable at first, but Blackout was serious about this.</p><p>"Please?" Blackout added.</p><p>Spark blinked multiple times. He and Blackout both had the same rank in terms of command, which meant Blackout couldn't order him to do anything, and so did Spark. Which means, Blackout was just asking for a favor. A favor, that was clearly not allowed.</p><p>He didn't know what was going through his head, when he said yes.</p><p>-</p><p>"The dish was both dismantled and torn apart."</p><p>"So two people were outside?"</p><p>"Probably."</p><p>The directors had gathered in the Director's Office again. Rex had done an EVA with Fox and his men last night, to investigate the broken communication tech. And apparently there was more than one person outside.</p><p>"Who keeps track of EVAs?" Cody asked, primarily looking at Thorn, because he was in charge of everything information related, as the director of Information Transmission. </p><p>"The IT Department normally," Thorn responded, but he seemed unsure about his answer.</p><p>"Who do you mean, 'normally'?" Rex questioned.</p><p>"Well, the IT Department is currently understaffed. It could've probably went under their radar. ... Furthermore, I think none of them were actually present during that time," Thorn stated.</p><p>"Since when are we understaffed?" It was Bacara speaking.</p><p>"Probably since Skywalker reorganized the station," Rex explained.</p><p>"So that's why we have so many pilots!" Cody exclaimed.</p><p>"Is the IT Department present right now?"</p><p>"Should be."</p><p>"Good, it wouldn't harm anyone to question them anyway."</p><p>Rex turned to leave, as did the other directors, but not Cody. He kept staring outside the glass, down at the lobby. </p><p>Rex waited until Thorn and Bacara had left, when he turned and walked up to Cody.</p><p>"Do you want to come with me?"</p><p>Cody sighed, shaking is head. </p><p>"I am making a rundown of all my departments. Why don't you take Fox with you?"</p><p>Rex frowned. Cody didn't sound like that, not usually anyway. There was something in his voice, but Rex couldn't pinpoint what it was. So he sighed, and walked towards the door of the office.</p><p>"I'll see you later," Rex said, waving a short goodbye and then made his way to the Security Department, to pick up Fox and the detectives. </p><p>Cody stood there for while, but then turned to leave. Water Production and Management was next.</p><p>- </p><p>Water Management was at the lowest part of the station, at the very bottom. It took a while to get there, but that wasn't a problem for Cody. </p><p>He always had the urge to check on them, he just couldn't imagine how it must be, to be so far away from other staff. Water Management was pretty isolated and there were only four people at max down there, security included.</p><p>The door opened with a hiss and Cody was surprised to see, that he almost couldn't see anything.</p><p>Confused, Cody looked around, the noise of machines running similar to Power Management roared in his ears.</p><p>A lamp flashed on, filling the room with light. Cody blinked multiple times and suddenly, the staff came into his field of view.</p><p>"Director? What are you doing here?" asked O'Niner, Head of Department. He walked towards Cody and stopped in front of him. The other two were waiting a few meters behind him.</p><p>"I am making a rundown of the Life Provision departments." He stopped for a second.<br/>
"Why is it so dark in here?" </p><p>Nub stepped forward.</p><p>"We don't get much power down here. Most of it goes to Food Production or the R and D Center. Or Information Transmission, or the Tunnels..."</p><p>"Basically everywhere but here," CT-327 added. </p><p>Cody frowned, but before he could say anything, O'Niner started to speak again.</p><p>"It's fine, really. We get it. Other departments just need a little more power, apparently. I mean, we are fine with what we have," he explained, as reasonable as he could. </p><p>"I will talk with Power Management." Cody had trouble finding the right words.<br/>
"I... How long is this the case?"</p><p>They looked at each other, Nub and CT-327 shrugged. </p><p>"I would guess since the station got reorganized. But, it's not a problem, really," O'Niner reassured. Cody would talk to Bly anyway.</p><p>He looked around, something seemed off. It was hard to identify.</p><p>"Where's your security?"</p><p>Nub answered. </p><p>"Hevy always leaves around this time. He said, Fox wanted him to do something. Or was it Rex?"</p><p>Cody shook his head.</p><p>"I can assure you, that this is not the case. I- ... When he tries to leave next time, tell him that Rex knows what he is doing, and that he should stop. If he gets caught, he will be put into Maintenance. Got it?"</p><p>O'Niner was confused, as was the rest of the staff.</p><p>"But... Rex is not here?"</p><p>"Do you think he would care if I said something against it?"</p><p>"Probably not."</p><p>"Good. I'll talk to Bly"</p><p>Cody turned around to leave, he could hear O'Niner was trying to say something, but Cody was already out of the room and couldn't hear him. Maybe he could also find out why O'Niner didn't want him to talk to Power Management. </p><p>-</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Distractions and Leads</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>More Rex/Cody focus.</p><p>Blackout did a bad thing, Spark helped him.</p><p>Kix has new information.</p><p>The cooks are kinda rude.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The server room, that was also used as the general workspace of the IT Department, was way warmer than the rest of the station. Which was no surprise, it's a server room after all. But maybe Rex should talk to Cody about this. He himself didn't know who was in charge of the climate regulation, but Cody would know for sure. </p><p>Rex walked past the rows of different servers, until he came to a row of desks, only three were occupied though.</p><p>They all looked up at him simultaneously and Thire, the Head of Department, stood up.</p><p>"Uh, Rex. Good to see you. Is there anything you need?" </p><p>Rex frowned at the sight right before him. How could there be so many desks, but only three staff members? He now understood what Thorn meant by 'understaffed'. </p><p>"I need the history of recent EVAs," Rex came straight to the point.</p><p>Thire seemed to need a moment to process the information.</p><p>"Uhh, yeah sure. Um, Jek, you got that?"</p><p>"Sure thing."</p><p>Jek typed on his keyboard, clicked with the mouse a few times and then frowned.</p><p>"Um... There is only one EVA documented... It's from you, Rex. Together with Fox, Stone and Jesse," he explained, a confused look on his face.</p><p>"No, this can't be," Rex replied, walking over to Jek's desk, but he was right. Only one EVA was shown, and it was Rex' from last night, at airlock seven.</p><p>"Well, the computer doesn't lie," Jek shrugged.</p><p>Rex stared at the monitor for a good while, and then sighed. </p><p>"Thank you for your time," he said and promptly left the server room. </p><p>It was certain that the data was deleted, but who had access to the server room? </p><p>Rex stopped in his tracks and turned around, walking back to the row of desks.</p><p>"Who has access to this room?"</p><p>The staff looked up, surprised at first, that Rex was showing up so soon again, then their faces changed to a nervous expression.</p><p>"I forgot to lock the room last night," Rys admitted, lowering his gaze down at his desk.</p><p>Rex made a frustrated groan and went to leave again.</p><p>"Please don't tell Thorn!" Rys shouted behind him.</p><p>-</p><p>Blackout looked around, Takeoff was mainly empty, but everyone would know as soon as he left with a shuttle. </p><p>Spark was typing on a keyboard from a board computer, always looking up, nervous. But for some reason, he couldn't tell Blackout that this was a bad idea. Well yes, both of them knew, but Spark did it anyway.</p><p>"Okay, you're ready to lift off," Spark said, pulling his hands away from the keyboard.</p><p>"You're the best," Blackout replied and opened the door to the shuttle.</p><p>"Wait, are you not going to tell me what your plan is?"</p><p>Blackout though for second, one foot already in the shuttle.</p><p>"Um... Well. Maybe I can find a part of the satellite dish?" It seemed more like question than a statement, but before Spark could ask any further questions, the door closed and the shuttle was slowly lowered down into the airlock.</p><p>Spark could hear distant shouts and screams, the engineers were trying to stop the shuttle, hastily typing things into the board computers. But the airlock door was already closing and Spark could hear the airlock depressurizing and then it was gone. </p><p>The engineers were now loudly complaining, until one of them spotted Spark. Packed with fear, he just realized in which position he put himself. </p><p>Spark looked around, but there was only one way back down and this way was currently occupied by the different engineers, that were trying to get to Spark. </p><p>He could try to jump, but he would probably just break his legs or die. So he turned around and waited for the engineers to get to him.</p><p>-</p><p>"Is this really necessary?"</p><p>The Security Department has made a provisional interrogation room, two actually, one for Blackout, who just asked Rex this question, and for Spark who was interrogated by Fox.</p><p>"Yes," Rex replied, placing both of his hands on the table in front of him.</p><p>"And now tell me, why did you leave with the shuttle?" Rex' face was serious, but also frustrated. He had every reason to assume Blackout was involved with the incident, but he generously seemed to have no idea what this was all about. It made Rex angry, this was precious time he was wasting, but at the same time he didn't want to leave out any chances.</p><p>"I was looking for the satellite dish!" Blackout answered, for the fourth time in the row.</p><p>"And how do you even know about that?" Rex' voice became louder, filled with emotion. Something that rarely happened. He was normally the most collected and calm clone on the station, but this whole investigation just lead to nothing. Anything that could bring him further was accepted, even if it meant interrogating Blackout for the next days.</p><p>"Stak and Razor told everyone, ask them. Did you really think something major like that was just going to be ignored?" Blackout became louder as well, frustrated. </p><p>"And you thought it would be a good idea, to just fly away on your own? Disregarding the ban completely? Did you not listen, when Matchstick banned the takeoff of shuttles completely?"<br/>
Rex let out a frustrated groan, slamming his hands on the table and then turned around to face the wall. </p><p>This lead to nothing. If Blackout really had anything to do with the murder, than why should he do something like that in the first place? Rex didn't listen to the pilot's answer and left the room, leaving Blackout angrily shouting behind him.</p><p>Fox exited the room on the other side as well, he had a similar look as Rex on his face, but not as frustrated.</p><p>"Spark had no idea what Blackout's plan was. Probably just wanted to make a good impression. ... On him, not the station," Fox reported, arms crossed and leaning on a nearby wall. </p><p>"Blackout had nothing to do with anything. The only thing he did was disregard a direct command from his supervisor, but other than that..." Rex rubbed his eyes, let out a deep breath. </p><p>"They can leave. This leads to nothing."</p><p>Rex turned to leave.</p><p>"Got it, I'll dismiss them," Fox replied, but Rex had already turned a corner. Fox let out a sigh. He too wanted to have this investigation out of the way as soon as possible, but he thought Rex should rest for a day. It looked like he really needed that. Good thing that tomorrow would be the weekly day off. For most of them at least.</p><p>-</p><p>Rex walked through the station, his steps were fast and he didn't really watched where he went, or where he even wanted to go. It was just a lucky coincidence that Cody crossed his path and stood in front of him, stopping Rex in his tracks.</p><p>"Hey, is everything alright?" Cody's face was full of worry, as was his voice. He originally wanted to check in on the Food Production, but Rex looked so fed up, he couldn't help himself but try to help him.</p><p>Rex wanted to lie, wanted to say it was fine and that he could deal with it. But it seemed wrong, especially to Cody. He sighed and avoided any eye contact. </p><p>"No. I just..." He sighed again as he was trying to find the right words.<br/>
"I just feel like this whole investigation leads to nothing. I can read as much into things as I want, but in the end, there is nothing I can do really." Rex took a deep breath and finally looked at Cody, who gave him the most empathetic look that he had ever seen. </p><p>Cody looked around for a second, but they were alone in the hallway. His arms twitched, in a movement that should have been a hug, but he hesitated and crossed his arms in front of his chest. </p><p>"I am sure you're trying your best, Rex," Cody said, voice soft and understanding. But Rex had no idea why he sounded like that, like he knew exactly in which situation Rex was currently in.</p><p>But before any of them could get deeper into the talk, Rex' comm blinked up. Hesitant at first, but he let the call through. It was Kix.</p><p>"Rex? Could you come to the Medical Center? I think I've got something."</p><p>Rex looked at Cody, questioning. Cody thought for second, but nodded as it was probably better for Rex and him, when he came with him. He just didn't want Rex to handle all of this on his own right now and Cody could use a 'distraction', if you could call it that, as well.</p><p>"I'm on my way," Rex replied and together they headed to an elevator, to get to the Medical Center.</p><p>- </p><p>Kix was waiting for them at the reception, staring intensely at a datapad. He noticed Rex and Cody only as they were standing right in front of him. The medic looked up.</p><p>"Here, take a look at this," Kix said, handing Rex the datapad and giving Cody a confused look, but shrugged it off. It was not really a surprise that he showed up as well, the victim was still one of his men. </p><p>"What is this?" Rex asked, after taking a look at the pad. It was just displaying a chart with various different numbers and words that didn't tell him anything. </p><p>"A toxicological report. Because the victim showed no signs of physical harm, I tested him for any... extraneous or harmful substances," Kix explained and paused for a moment. He took a deep breath and then started talking again.</p><p>"He died due to an overdose of digitoxin. That's a medication used as a cardiac glycoside. It's supposed to help with cardiac insufficiency, um, heart failure. But it's rarely used anymore because of it's awful side effects." </p><p>Rex and Cody looked at each other. </p><p>"And what are the side effects?" Cody asked, looking nervously around the room.</p><p>"Cardiac arrest," Kix responded straight away. "But only if it was overdosed. Other symptoms should've been, nausea, vomiting, headaches, vision disorders... It should've been obvious that he was overdosed."</p><p>Cody felt guilty, he should've been there. How could he not notice that one of his men was sick? There would've been no way to oversee the fact, that CT-2911 was clearly not okay. And what did he do? Nothing. </p><p>Rex noticed Cody's expression and carefully laid a hand on his shoulder. Cody looked up. </p><p>"This is not your fault, alright?" he whispered, and there was this look again. Just like a two days ago. Rex took his hand away and turned to Kix again. </p><p>"Only you have access to these medications, right?" Rex asked.</p><p>Kix got defensive, taking a step back and looking at Rex with an irritated face.</p><p>"I don't like what you are implying, Rex," he replied, voice louder and offended than what was usually the case.<br/>
"I don't even have those medications. They're unreliable and there are much better ways to treat cardiac insufficiency."</p><p>"I didn't mean to-," Rex tried to defend himself, but Kix interrupted him.</p><p>"Yeah, sure, whatever." The medic took the datapad out of Rex' hands. </p><p>"He probably took the medication unknowingly. Was probably mixed under his food or something," Kix said and then turned around to leave the reception.</p><p>"Now, I'll get back to my work. If there's anything you need, you know where to find me." Kix disappeared behind a door.</p><p>Rex sighed. He didn't mean to upset Kix, of course not. He just wanted to know what perso had access to these things. Maybe he should've used other words and changed his tone to something not as reproachful.</p><p>"Oh no..." </p><p>He turned to Cody, his expression has gotten worse. There was so much guilt, so much regret in his eyes. Rex took him by the shoulder and left the Medical Center, so that they were standing in an empty hallway again. Rex really wanted to comfort Cody, he really did, but he didn't know how.</p><p>"It's okay if you want to go to your quarters," Rex said, hand still resting on Cody's shoulder. Cody shook his head.</p><p>"No. I... I'm coming with you to the kitchen," Cody replied, finally looking up at Rex. He brushed his hand off his shoulder and started walking. </p><p>Rex sighed and followed him.</p><p>-</p><p>The Cafeteria was mostly empty, most clones had already got back to their work or had went to their quarters.</p><p>Cody and Rex headed to the kitchen, from a distance you could already hear loud and hectic talking. Something fell on the ground, followed by a loud curse, probably from Cooker.</p><p>Cody opened the door and stepped in, only to be almost run over by Gearshift.</p><p>"Watch it!" he said, annoyed, until he looked up and realized who he ran into. Gearshift looked at Cody, mouth half opened and mumbling an apology, before he continued his way to one of the ovens.</p><p>"Who is that?" Cooker came around a corner, his tone was similar to Gearshift's, annoyed and frustrated. He stopped in his tracks when he saw Cody and Rex.</p><p>"Director," he greeted, confused almost, a frown on his face. </p><p>"We have a few questions," Cody stated, taking more steps into the kitchen, only now realizing that it was everything but tidy.</p><p>"This place looks like a mess," Rex whispered.</p><p>"Watch your mouth." Rex looked to his right, Longshot was walking by. He was carrying multiple different kitchen items in his hands. He greeted Cody with nod and with a far more nicer tone.<br/>
"Good to see you, director."</p><p>"I'm sorry to tell you this," Cooker said, walking from the other end of the room to Cody.<br/>
"But we have no time to talk. Tomorrow will be a busy day for us. We can talk after that," he explained and promptly turned around again.</p><p>"We need to talk now," Rex said, but Cooker just shrugged.<br/>
"I don't take orders from you." He shot him a glance.<br/>
"I don't wanna sound rude, but we need our space, so it would be nice if you two could just leave." None of the cooks were paying any more attention to them. </p><p>Rex looked at Cody, but before he could ask him to order his men around, Cody was already out the door. Rex followed him, confused.</p><p>"We should give them their space," he explained.</p><p>"What? No, why should we? One of them is potentially a murderer, their space is secondary." </p><p>"We don't know! It could've been anyone!" Cody got louder, sighed and tried to calm himself again. There was no way he was going to tell Rex, that he was doing that simply to not be seen as an asshole by his men. The cooks were busy and Cody thought it would be the best to just let them have their will, they could still ask them later, right? </p><p>"Are you aware that someone could die, because you won't tell them to talk to us for second?"</p><p>Cody was trying to leave, but Rex blocked his way. </p><p>"Cody, talk to me," he demanded. Cody looked at Rex, his inner conflict was clearly visible, through his eyes and facial expression.</p><p>"I don't have the energy to deal with you at the moment, you can still talk to them the day after tomorrow, okay?" Cody shoved past Rex. He was lucky the Crew Quarters were just around the corner.</p><p>Rex gave up to try and persuade him and watched Cody leave. Why was he acting like this all of a sudden?</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. A day off</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Comic relief and fluff, what else do I have to say. </p><p>Rex and Cody share their day off together.</p><p>Stak lost his controller and he is seeking Razor for help.</p><p>Blackout and Spark love cake.</p><p>The Wolfpack chills in micro gravity.</p><p>Domino Squad is just a bunch of gamers.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This is like the longest chapter I ever wrote</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>This was their day off, a day to relax. Only a few members of the station actually worked on this day. Cody was one of them, though he didn't have to. He chose to, mostly because of his own feelings towards his sub departments. During his rundown, he had the feeling of not being enough. He didn't like how surprised everyone was to see him. They still treated him like the authority he was, but to Cody, it all seemed so fake. It should be normal for the director to check in on his men, it was for Rex, Thorn and even Bacara. </p><p>Cody was in his office, he filed the reports, which actually were done mostly by the Head of the Departments. He saw the perfect opportunity to give something back, especially since most of them were off duty anyway, except the kitchen. But they normally didn't do reports except for the food they were serving, so it was fine.</p><p>He didn't expect to have a visitor, and definitely not Rex.</p><p>"You're working on your day off?"</p><p>Rex was standing in the door way, which Cody had purposely left open. He looked up from his monitor and sighed. </p><p>"Yes," he confirmed and looked back at the document he was working on. It was almost done, he just needed to add a few more sentences and he would be done with the Water Management. Now that he thought about it, he still had to talk to Bly about the power issue.</p><p>"For any reason in particular?"</p><p>"I'm giving something back," Cody simply answered and started to type again. Rex fully entered the room, stopping right in front of Cody's desk.</p><p>"Listen, I came to apologize. While I still think that this matter is very serious, I should have not been so rude to you," Rex said, in a honest and regretful tone. </p><p>Cody finished the report and locked his screen. He was done with the reports. </p><p>"It's okay. Honestly, I should've expected such a reaction." Cody stood up from his chair and walked around his desk, stopping in front of Rex.</p><p>"No, no you shouldn't have. That's why I'm apologizing.</p><p>Rex looked like he was genuinely sorry. Cody sighed.</p><p>"Apology accepted," he said, receiving a slight smile from Rex and what could he do other than return it? </p><p>Rex looked at Cody's monitor.</p><p>"Are you finished with your work?"</p><p>"I am."</p><p>"Do you want to go to the arboretum?"</p><p>"With you?"</p><p>"With me."</p><p>"Sure."</p><p>That sounded like a good idea to Cody. The members of Food Production were mostly in the arboretum, since it was just next their workspace. Cody actually had not talked to them in a while and this just seemed like a good opportunity to start working on his image as a director. Though this was their day off, he knew Waxer and Boil often stayed in the arboretum, or the greenhouse. </p><p>But that was not the first thought that came to Cody's mind. He liked the idea of staying with Rex, staying close to him. It was such a calming thought, looking at the various different plants their station contained, but it also set Cody's heart racing, when he thought about doing it with Rex. He didn't know why... Well maybe he did, but he didn't want to think about it. </p><p>They both left Cody's office and went to the lobby. It wasn't a surprise to see so many clones, just hanging around in the lobby. Especially not since Domino Squad had occupied the lounge. </p><p>"I...," Rex started, as the doors of the elevator closed. He thought a moment, if he really wanted to adress the topic. It was about their investigation, what else should it have been about? But Rex was not sure if Cody wanted to hear about it. They also had their meetings in the directors office, then Thorn and Bacara would hear about it too. </p><p>"What?"</p><p>Rex decided against telling Cody.</p><p>"It was about the investigation, but I'll tell you and the others tomorrow. I don't want to ruin this day." </p><p>Cody wanted to ask for more information, but at the same time, he was thankful that Rex didn't want to disturb their time together with the whole investigation thing. Nothing has happened since their communication has been cut off, maybe that was it. Maybe it was just meant to scare them, or something similar to that </p><p>Cody shook his head, he didn't want to think about this further.</p><p>The elevator stopped right at the arboretum, no detour needed. They stepped out of it, slowly, and took a look around the place. The arboretum was easily the stations most beautiful place to look at, it was also the most visited, especially by visitors. There was no metal floor here, instead the floor was mostly out of black stone, which neither Cody nor Rex knew the name of, they were no geologists after all. The ceiling was glass, that gave one a nice view of the black void of space, scattered with thousands of different stars. On good days, one could see Jupiter or Saturn, and on even better days, one could watch shooting stars. But today, neither of these events were happening.</p><p>The plants were divided by color, a design choice done by Kosmos in the very early days of the Resolute. But when the station got reorganized, he was put into Industrial Design in the Mechanical Laboratory and the arboretum had no more designers. It was already complete, anything other than gardeners were not needed. The gardeners took special care of each individual plant, just like they did with the food they grew here. </p><p>Neither Cody nor Rex said anything, when they began walking around the arboretum, starting with the section of red plants. The plants were from various different sizes, most of them were genetically modified, to make them bigger or have a more saturated color. Boil was currently the only Genetic Flora Modifier on the Resolute at the moment. While his original job is to modify the food, he modified the other plants in his free time. </p><p>While Cody and Rex went through the rows of now orange colored flora, Cody had the sudden urge to hold Rex' hand. But he didn't, that would be weird, right? They were colleagues, friends at most. Friends didn't do that, and clones definitely didn't do that. It would just be weird and awkward, so Cody kept his hands to himself. </p><p>They started to chatter eventually, about various different topics. They talked about their men, mostly positively though and the station. If they were just going to be here forever. It was the reason they got made in the first place after all. Rex stated his interest in leaving the Resolute, not soon, but the Republican Space Agency, the company that was managing this station, has announced a manned expedition to Ganymede, Jupiter's biggest moon. Satellites have been sent there before and the surface was already entirely mapped out, but no man had stepped on its surface, yet. </p><p>Cody and Rex continued their conversation, eventually they sat down on the benches that were distributed throughout the arboretum.</p><p>-</p><p>Razor was in his quarters, as he usually was. Sometimes he would spent time with Stak, but they had decided early on to not be seen together as much. And leaving the other one's quarter is almost the same thing. It was an agreement, though both would love to spend more time together, they also had no problem to spend their free day without each other. That was until there was knock on Razor's door.</p><p>A little surprised, Razor muted his TV and got up from his bed. He opened the door, only to find Stak standing right behind it. </p><p>"What do you need?" Razor asked, a little confused frown forming on his face. Stak shoved past Razor without saying anything and looked around the room. </p><p>"I lost my controller." Razor was surprised to hear how sad Stak sounded.<br/>
"I need yours," he added, now climbing on top of Razor's bed to find it, where ever it was. He lifted the pillows, the blanket, looked behind the bed.<br/>
"Where is it?"</p><p>"I don't have a console, Stak. I thought you knew?"</p><p>Stak looked at his boyfriend, there was a mix of disappointment and disbelief in his voice.</p><p>"What? I thought you had one?" </p><p>He looked at the TV screen and yes, Razor was right. There was no console connected to it. Stak let out a groan of frustration and threw himself head first onto the bed. </p><p>Razor sighed and finally left his place at the door, to join Stak on his bed. </p><p>"I am at the most intense part of the game, I need to keep playing. This is the worst," Stak mumbled into the sheets, frustrated and Razor tried to comfort him by slowly stroking his back. </p><p>"Fives stole it, I bet. Or Hevy, after they broke their controllers again. Jek and Rys told me their controllers went missing, too. And we're not getting new ones until the next cargo shipment arrives." Stak rolled on his back and looked at Razor, seeking for help.</p><p>"We can spent our time differently until the next shipment is here, you know?" </p><p>Stak looked at Razor a little confused, but when he laid his hand onto his thigh, he understood.</p><p>"I top," Stak stated and got himself up to a sitting position.</p><p>"You can try." </p><p>-</p><p>The cafeteria was the most visited place on free day. Because it was the only day the kitchen served cake. It was the most popular dish the kitchen made and some clones only ate cake on this day. Others sometimes took the cake to their quarters, so they could have more for the next days. And because there was no limit on how much someone can take to eat, it was the most hectic day for the kitchen. One could sit anywhere in the cafeteria and would always hear at least one of the cooks loudly complain and or curse. It was Cooker most of the time though. </p><p>Blackout and Spark were sitting at one of the tables and were eating the cake, that was the cause of one of Cooker's mental breakdowns once. </p><p>"So, do you any plans after you finish this cake?" Blackout tried to casually start a conversation, but it sounded really awkward.</p><p>"No. Also, that was a very poor attempt at trying to do smalltalk," Spark responded, recieving a frustrated sigh from Blackout.</p><p>Spark had gotten a little more comfortable with Blackout, especially after the whole shuttle thing. Blackout liked it. </p><p>"Well, there's not much happening around here, you know?"</p><p>Blackout took a look around, most of the people here were silently sitting by themselves or in a small group. The only thing that was really going on was in the kitchen. </p><p>"We could go to the lounge and watch Domino Squad getting absolutely destroyed," Blackout suggested.</p><p>"Nah, too loud there."</p><p>"Oh and the kitchen is not?" </p><p>As if the kitchen could hear them, a sudden and loud scream echoed through the cafeteria, followed by various different curses from all of the cooks. And then the smell of something burnt filled the room. It was obvious what had happened. </p><p>"We could go to the movies?" Blackout hesitantly asked. Spark looked surprised.</p><p>"That'a a nice way of saying 'Let's watch whatever the TV is currently showing'," he replied, but stood up regardless. </p><p>"Sounds good," Spark added. "I'm gonna get more cake." </p><p>"Yes," Blackout whispered to himself and stood up as well, following him fast. </p><p>"We have to carry as much as we can." </p><p>-</p><p>The supply tunnels were probably the most confusing and hardest place to navigate around in the Resolute. While having an earth like gravity was good for the health and interior, it also meant everything was just as hard to transport. A space station needs to have a lot of stuff ready at request, but it wasn't easy to move things from the cargo bay to the other side of the station, especially when it weighed multiple hundred kilograms. </p><p>And so the Supply Connections and Management Department was created and it has been the same since. It was the only station that never changed who worked there. Because one could get easily lost in the Zero Gravity Tunnels, as they were not labeled at all and looked the same. Because there was no up and down in the Tunnels, there was no way to navigate them if one didn't have any help from the Wolfpack. </p><p>They were the only ones that knew were everything was. The majority of the time they worked on the station was in these tunnels. Even today, when they didn't even have to work, they spent their time in the Tunnels. The Wolfpack had found a lot of ways to have fun in zero gravity and it got even better when they got their Micro-Gravity-Drives, that everyone referred to as jetpacks, even though they weren't real jetpacks. </p><p>"Guys, look what the Mechanical Laboratory gave me," Wolffe, the Head of Department, said. His jetpack was vastly different than those of his men. </p><p>"That looks really cool. What does it do different?" Comet flew towards him. </p><p>"I don't know the exact differences, but it's faster and also can do this," Wolffe explained and bursted forward with a way higher acceleration than the normal jetpacks were typically capable of. He bumped into one of walls, but quickly got back to his men.</p><p>"I gotta get one of those," Boost said. "Do they have more?" </p><p>"No, this is a prototype. And because I am the Head of Department, I got it, you peasants."</p><p>"Ow," Warthog pretended to be hurt, Sinker did the same. </p><p>"It also apparently uses liquid nitrogen... or was it oxygen? I don't know, but it has way more fuel than my old jetpack," Wolffe rambled on, slowly floating away from his men. </p><p>"I'm gonna tell Neyo that he should make more of these," Boost said and slowly flew over to a different tunnel entrance, which was leading to the Mechanical Laboratory. </p><p>"I don't think it was even his idea," Comet replied, following Boost. The rest of them did the same.</p><p>"Sadistic Neyo is probably not even in the Mechanical Lab. He's probably off, doing something sadistic," Sinker took a turn, leading them now into the general direction of the cafeteria.</p><p>"But he's also not one of the cake people," Wolffe said grabbing Dinker by the shoulder and lightly pushing him back into the other tunnel. </p><p>"Maybe he is in his quarters?" Warthog got in front of the others and pointed into yet another different tunnel entrance. </p><p>"Only one way to find out," Wolffe said. "Who ever finds him first gets the next prototype," he announced and everyone split up into different directions. </p><p>Unbeknownst to them, Neyo was in a location none of them would expect him to be. </p><p>- </p><p>There was a lounge, not far from the cafeteria and the crew quarters. It was meant for the crew, a place to relax. There was a big screen on the wall, multiple tables and couches and really anything a crew could ask for. Until Domino Squad showed up.</p><p>The lounge was not what it has been, it was no longer a room to relax in, beside one's own quarters. Domino Squad would occupy the lounge every free day, for the whole 24 hours. They somehow managed to take the screens from their quarters and set them up in the lounge. It took a whole day, but in the end, there was always an entire setup of consoles in the lounge, for exactly five people.</p><p>It became a standard sight to see Domino Squad having a LAN-Party in the lounge, always playing the same three online games, consistently talking and screaming to each other.</p><p>While one half of the crew didn't like what they did, the other was genuinely interested in how their games worked and 'if they were winning'.</p><p>Members of different departments would gather in the lounge and cheer them on, or would loudly complain with them about weird bugs in the game. They would always agree, when one of Domino Squad said something like "That was clearly a headshot!", "I couldn't even see him!" or "He's hacking!". </p><p>It became a genuine event and today was another one.</p><p>Domino Squad had gathered in the lounge again, they were currently 1-2 and it didn't look like they were going to win this round.</p><p>"Guys, come on, I don't wanna go to overtime," Hevy complained.</p><p>"You're the one with the negative K/D, shut up," Fives replied.</p><p>They were often insulting each other and arguing. It was part of the event and also way more entertaining for their audience.</p><p>"But at least I'm trying. Echo here doesn't even have a K/D!"</p><p>"Hey! Watch your mouth," Echo said, not turning his head away from the screen.</p><p>"I'm dead." Cutup's controller dropped down to the floor. He sighed, defeated and leaned back on the couch.</p><p>"Me too," Hevy added and watched his kill cam. "He's in kitchen." </p><p>"What?!" Fives exclaimed suddenly und threw his controller at the floor. His screen flashed red, as did Echo's. "What killed me?" The kill cam showed a C4 that had been thrown at the ceiling of the first floor, Fives and Echo had been in the second one. </p><p>They all looked at Droidbait's screen, he was the only one left alive.</p><p>"They have you four to one," Cutup said.</p><p>"I like those odds." </p><p>Droidbait clutched the round and it was now 2-2. Although most of Domino Squad wouldn't admit it, Droidbait was easily their best player, he would often carry them to victory. Solo he would definitely be in a higher rank. </p><p>The Weapon Specialists were sitting on a table, not far from the couch. They were discussing the outcome of the game.</p><p>"They will go to overtime and then lose 4-5, I think," Blitz stated his thoughts. </p><p>"Nah, will probably be 2-4. Like, they're spawnpeeking and that's Droidbait's only weakness," Colt replied. </p><p>"Maybe even 3-5, if Echo's support is good," Havoc said. </p><p>"The enemy team is probably also a five or maybe a four stack, that's why they are sucking so much right now." </p><p>They were watching Domino Squad with great interest. While they were still in General Security, all of them had shown interest of transferring to the Weapon Specialists. And since the game they were playing was about guns and shooting, Colt, Blitz and Havoc took their performance into judgement as well. </p><p>Domino Squad managed to get to a 4-4 and the stakes were high. If they lost this round, three of them would rank down and if they won, all of them would rank up. This was a very important round, they had to win. It showed, they were all much more concentrated and listened to Droidbait, when he predicted the enemies strategy and suggested a way to counter them. </p><p>The room had gone quiet, everyone was intensely watching the screens that had been poorly hooked up at the wall. This round felt longer than the other ones. They were trading, one of them got killed and then they would kill one of the enemy team. </p><p>At the end, the only one left was Fives and there two people left on the enemy team. Everyone was quiet, even Cutup whose personal job was backseat gaming. Fives had planted the defused, then killed the first enemy and his HP went down to 16. He couldn't relax for a second, as the other one was starting the gunfight. It became a back and forth between them, shooting, taking cover, reloading. They repeated that process for a while and Fives died. </p><p>But the match was not over, they were attacking and there were only a few seconds left. But the remaining player didn't manage to defuse the defuser in time. They won.</p><p>The room bursted out in joy, cheering and general screaming. Domino Sqaud hugged each other almost violently, so did half the room actually. People were crying out of joy, they were clapping and congratulating them. It was like after a match of any popular sport after your favorite team won. Only that it was an online game and there was only one team you could root for.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I'm honestly so excited for the Artemis mission ngl</p><p>Also, I watched the Mandalorian it was actually really good, might write something about it we'll see</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Suspicion and Suspects</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Bacara is not happy about Rex' prime suspect.</p><p>Cody finally talks to Bly and Inc about the Water Management situation.</p><p>Gree and a small team of engineers and mechanics do an EVA to inspect the damage of the communication systems. </p><p>Rex and Jesse take a look at the Cargo Bay and make heavy progress in their investigation.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The directors of the stations had gathered in the Director's Office yet again. Rex was telling them about the information he and Fix had gathered together. It was mostly speculation, but seemed very logical if you thought about it.</p><p>"We think they are three, four or more people involved in this whole situation. Fox and I are sure that at least one of them is working in Cargo Bay and another is working in Food Production. The Cargo Bay recieved the package with the medication and one of the members of Food Production put it in the food. We also think one of Communication and some one who is an engineer or a mechanic are involved," Rex explained. </p><p>Cody stared at the floor. He couldn't image any one of Food Production to do something like this. While, yes, some of them have their flaws, none of them could go as far as to kill someone. It was just so unlikely.</p><p>"So four people at least?" Thorn asked, staring through the glass wall. It hit him similar to Cody. But that was obvious, no one would expect his own men to do such things.</p><p>"Correct. Jesse and I will talk to Slick, while Fox and Stone are going to Waxer. We will question them and see, if we can gain any information."</p><p>"I'm impressed that you're handling this situation so... so professional," Thorn said and turned around to face Rex. He knew Rex was the director of the Safety Ordnance, but he wouldn't have expected him to take measures into his own hands. He thought it was more likely that Fox started an investigation on his own, as he was eager on a promotion. </p><p>"It's my duty," Rex simply replied and then turned to Bacara, who had not said anything yet during this meeting. </p><p>"As the director of the Research and Development Center, I think it is necessary to inform you that Neyo is one of our prime suspects."</p><p>"Excuse me?" </p><p>Everyone knew that Bacara and Neyo shared a close relationship. They were often seen together, talking, eating, everything. Everyone also knew that Bacara and Neyo were not the kindest souls. Kix often had to take care of members of the Mechanical Laboratory, that had been harmed in 'accidents'. It was a very serious issue, but the station directors didn't want a further inspection. And the clones were meant to follow orders, so that's what they did. </p><p>"You heard me." </p><p>Bacara became angry, his expression twisted and he made a step towards Rex. </p><p>"Neyo would never do such thing." </p><p>"Well, he definitely doesn't stand out for his good behavior." </p><p>Thorn and Cody watched their conversation unfold. Thorn really didn't want to intervene as he knew how violent Bacara could get. He also knew that Rex had probably the most experience in combat than any one else on the station, so he kept himself out of their conflict. </p><p>"He's innocent, and you're a fool for assuming otherwise."</p><p>"Based on your reaction I might have to take you in as an accomplice."</p><p>They were standing only half a meter apart, staring at each other, but none of them dared to make the first move. Which might've been a good thing. No one wanted a physical confrontation right now. </p><p>"You wouldn't dare."</p><p>"Are you sure?" </p><p>Cody intervened, finally. If he had waited longer this might have gotten out of hand. </p><p>"I think we should just calm down for a second," he said, pushing himself between the two of them. Bacara and Rex both took a step back, still staring at each other. Rex was the first to look away, turning his gaze to Cody. </p><p>"Sorry," Rex apologized, to Cody, not to Bacara. Of course not. </p><p>Bacara didn't say anything and just left the office. Thorn followed not soon after, but he kept his distance, not wanting to upset Bacara any further.</p><p>"Do you really think Bacara is an accomplice?" Cody asked.</p><p>"No, just an a... a not very nice person," Rex responded turning his gaze from the door to look at Cody. </p><p>"I hope you're right." </p><p>"So do I." </p><p>-</p><p>Cody finally managed to get after his promise of talking to Bly about the Water Management issue.</p><p>When he entered the room, he noticed that a few people were missing. Not many, but Cody still wondered where they were. But then he remembered, of course they weren't a lot of people here. Power Management rarely had all their members in one room at once. </p><p>Like the last time Cody was here, Chaos greeted hin again. And he again told him, where he could find Bly. This time Bly was working with Galle on one of the heaters. </p><p>Galle noticed Cody first and shook Bly's shoulder, who quickly turned around.</p><p>"Cody," Bly said. "What do you need?"</p><p>"I need to talk to you about the Water Production and Management Department."</p><p>Bly was a bit confused at first, but shrugged and told Galle to repair the heater himself. He would be right back.<br/>They went a few meters away from Galle, to be just out of hearing distance. </p><p>"So, what's the issue?" Bly asked.</p><p>"I talked to O'Niner, and apparently they're not getting enough power. When I got there, the room was dark. The computers were shut off and the only things that were getting power were the water pumps. Can you explain this to me?" At the end, Cody's tone got a little more accusing than he had intended to. Bly seemed to have no idea what he was talking about.</p><p>"What do you mean? According to my information, they're getting as much power as they need to," Bly responded, crossing his arms in a defensive manner. </p><p>"Operating in complete darkness isn't exactly 'as much power as they need to'." </p><p>Bly huffed and shook his head. </p><p>"Well, I don't know what you are talking about. If it is that bad, than I recommend you talk to Inc," Bly ended the conversation and got back to Galle, continuing to work on the heater.</p><p>Cody sighed and watched Bly walk away. That wasn't really what he was trying to achieve. He wanted to be on good terms with his men, and this wasn't really a step forward. </p><p>He turned, looked around the room, but Inc was nowhere to be seen. Cody could see Deviss, he was on one of the computers. Maybe he would know where Inc was, Cody would guess they were sharing a lot of time together, as their professions needed a lot of communication between each other. </p><p>"Deviss," Cody greeted and Deviss looked up at him. <br/>"Do you know where Inc is?"</p><p>Deviss thought and looked around the room. </p><p>"Right now? Probably arguing with Thire. Again," he answered and got back to his work. "They have problems with their power. One of their servers randomly shut itself off this morning." </p><p>"Thank you." Cody left the room.</p><p>He was concerned. He thought that the Water Management issue was a one time thing, something minor. But now Deviss told him that IT was having similar issues? Cody started drawing conclusions, making connections were there weren't any. Had that something to do with the incident? Was that a slow attempt on cutting the whole station off the power? Cody needed to talk to Inc.</p><p>The server room was very close to the Communication Center, which meant it was very far away from Power Management. On his way up the station Cody met several people from Takeoff. It was no surprise, it's not like they had anything to do anyway.</p><p>Cody could already hear loud arguing when he got near the server room. He opened the door.</p><p>"There was viable information stored on that server! How could something like this happen anyway?" Cody had never seen Thire that angry.</p><p>"I already told you this was an accident and won't happen again!"</p><p>"Well, I'm definitely not gonna take the blame when the Mars Outpost asks for our research results and I am not able to send them anything!" </p><p>They went quiet as soon as Cody stepped into their field of view.</p><p>"Director," they both said simultaneously, not a hint of rage or frustration in their voice. Cody didn't know how to feel about that.</p><p>"What is going on here?"</p><p>None of them said anything. They looked at each other, but then Thire raised his voice.</p><p>"One of our servers shut down this morning. It had stored viable information regarding the results of the research of Biomechanics," he explained as he didn't scream at Inc a minute ago.</p><p>"And he accused me of being responsible for it, which is obviously not the case," Inc added, throwing a glance towards Thire, but saying anything else.</p><p>Cody thought for a moment, looking at Inc and then at Thire. He was surprised at how quickly they both resolved their argument, just like that. Only because he was present. But it confused him as well. </p><p>"Thire, I'd recommend you talk to CC-4142 about that. And Inc," He turned to him. "IT is not the only department with not enough power."</p><p>"What do you mean?" Inc looked a bit confused. </p><p>"The only things getting power in Water Management right now are the pumps. That is barely enough." </p><p>Inc looked even more confused, as if Cody was speaking a language he didn't understand. </p><p>"No, that can't be. According to the numbers they are getting power as normal."</p><p>"Can you show me those numbers?"</p><p>"Sure." Inc looked at Thire, who sighed and sat down on his chair. He typed something on his keyboard and then waved both Inc and Cody over. </p><p>"There." </p><p>Cody looked at the screen. There was nothing odd about the numbers, they have been the same since the IT Department started recording them. But something seemed not right.</p><p>"Could you show me those numbers compared to the power consumption of the other Life Provision Departments?"</p><p>Thire nodded and not soon after, more numbers showed up on the monitor. Again, they have been the same for the whole time period the station was actively running. But now Cody could see the problem.</p><p>"The numbers for Water Management are way too low compared to other departments," he stated and looked at Inc, who quickly put his hands up in defense.</p><p>"I thought it was enough, I swear! Water Management had sent me their request for the power they needed, and I gave it to them! They didn't say anything to me or Bly about this." Inc sounded like he genuinely hadn't known about this issue until now. But Cody was asking himself, why O'Niner would sent a faulty request to Inc and then not correcting it. </p><p>"Inc, I want you to take Deviss or Patches with you and go talk to O'Niner about this." </p><p>Inc nodded and left the room. </p><p>"And I'll talk to CC-4142," Thire said, standing up from his desk. </p><p>They both left the server room and quickly parted ways. </p><p>Cody had the urge to tell Rex about this situation. It just seemed very off to him, this whole thing. He was about to pull up his comm, but stopped. Didn't Rex say that he was going to Cargo Bay? The last thing he wanted to do is to disturb Rex during his work. Or disturb him at any moment, really. Cosy sighed as he realized that he was getting in yet another conflict with himself and his emotions. Maybe it would be better to go back into his office. </p><p>-</p><p>"Depressurizing."</p><p>A group of mechanics and engineers had gathered in airlock four, which was located in the Mechanical Laboratory. </p><p>The airlock depressurized and gravity slowly faded away, until the EVA Team was floating in zero gravity. </p><p>"Okay, listen here," Gree, the leader of their team, spoke up. "We are doing this according to the rules. I don't want anyone flying around like a madman. The jetpacks are for emergencies, got it?" </p><p>Everyone hummed a word of agreement and Gree opened the airlock. He was the first to step out and grabbed one of the many metal bars that were constructed on the outside walls of the station. Their primary use was to help navigate outside, and honestly, it was their only use really. </p><p>Hawk and Roric were next, Flash was the last one. </p><p>They slowly climbed 'up' the station, to the part where the satellite dish once was. </p><p>"Why didn't we just use airlock seven?" Roric asked as they passed the outside of the lobby. </p><p>"Are you leading this team or am I?" Gree turned his head around to look at Roric, who had just grabbed the metal bar next to him. </p><p>"You are, sir."</p><p>"Exactly." </p><p>They fell into silence again, the only thing that could be heard was their own breathing through the comm. </p><p>"There it is."</p><p>The whole upper part of the station looked like it crashed down on Mars and then got put back into space with no repairs whatsoever. It was easy to see that whoever did that, had no idea how to properly dismantle anything mechanical. It looked like someone used something like a wrench and just hit it until it fell off. But other parts looked like they had been worked on by a professional. It was a confusing sight.</p><p>"Okay team, look around. Tell me what you could be fixed," Gree ordered, and the team split up, everyone looking at different parts of the communication.</p><p>There were outside for a good while, with the usual chatter between Roric and Hawk. </p><p>"Do we have any spare parts? Like, at all?" Hawk asked.</p><p>"Well, we should. But the last time I checked Biomechanics had taken the most parts," Gree answered. </p><p>"So we will have to wait 'till the next shipment?" Roric pulled himself up on a metal bar to look at Gree. </p><p>"I guess." </p><p>They were staying there for a little while longer, until Gree sighed and ordered them to gather by him.</p><p>"Let's go and repair the solar panels," he said and made his way down the station.</p><p>"I'm gonna follow you in a second, I have to check something real quick," Hawk said as he watched the rest of the team leave.</p><p>"You better hurry up," Gree replied.</p><p>"I will." </p><p>- </p><p>The Cargo Bay had to be one of the if not the largest room on the station. It went several meters up in height and supported multiple floors. Everything was stored in here, if you needed anything, it was probably here. It was truly surprising that the Cargo Bay was not even the department with the most members. </p><p>Rex and Jesse looked around the bay, primarily searching for Slick, the Head of Department. They could see two operatives in the far back, moving a large crate from one side of the other. </p><p>"Do you need any help?" </p><p>Both of them turned their head to the side. One of the workers walked towards them, holding a datapad in his hands.</p><p>"We are looking for Slick," Rex answered, folding his hands neatly behind his back. </p><p>"Oh, uhh. He is not... here... right now." The worker looked around, nervously and fidgeted with the datapad in his hands. "I'll tell him you were here... When he is back." </p><p>"Could you just tell us where he is?" Jesse stepped forward, arms crossed. His expression got sceptical and so did Rex'. </p><p>"Uhh, I don't know where he is... But I'll tell him you were here, when he gets back." </p><p>This time Rex took a step forward. </p><p>"Is there something we should know?"</p><p>The worker took a step back, holding the datapad defensive in front of his face, so that he could just barely look over it.</p><p>"Uhm, I don't think so. It's just... We were wondering when you would show up." </p><p>Rex and Jesse looked at each other. Maybe there was more to it than they thought. </p><p>"Hey! What are you doing to Jester?" </p><p>Rex and Jesse turned around. Another worker was coming towards them and he didn't look nearly as nervous as, apparently, Jester did. It was rather the opposite, in fact. He looked angry. </p><p>"Go help Punch, I'll handle this," the worker said to Jester, who quickly made his way to the other side of bay. Rex and Jesse shared a look.</p><p>"So, why did you guys harass Jester like that?"</p><p>"We weren't harassing him!" Jesse defended them, taking a step forward, but Rex held him back, putting a hand on his shoulder. </p><p>"We were just asking where Slick was. We need to talk to him." </p><p>"Well, then we are already three," the worker answered and crossed his arms.</p><p>"What do you mean by that?"</p><p>"He hasn't been here since yesterday. We've been running everything on our own mostly and thought he was just late. But he just wouldn't come so we asked Kix if he was in Medical. He wasn't," he explained, not as angry as before. </p><p>"Has anything happened recently?" Jesse asked. </p><p>"No. Nothing in particular. ... Well, we normally transport the cargo through the tunnels, as that is easier. But a few days ago someone from Food Production came in and Slick gave him some package. And because we normally don't do that, I asked him what it was. Apparently just 'spices', but it was very likely something else."</p><p>"The digitoxin," Jesse whispered.</p><p>"The what?"</p><p>"Can you tell us to whom he gave the package?" Rex asked, already pulling his comm up to contact Fox. </p><p>"I don't know his name, but he had blonde hair, kinda similar to you." </p><p>Rex turned to Jesse. </p><p>"Find Slick. Tell everyone from Security to look for him. This is an order." </p><p>Jesse nodded and almost sprinted out of Cargo Bay, Rex was following him with quick steps.</p><p>"What is it, Rex?" Fox answered through the comm.</p><p>"It's Crys, you hear me? Crys put the digitoxin in the food!"</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Finished season 7 of clone wars and honestly, damn. That hurt.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Insecurities</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>TW; mention of abuse </p><p>Rex interrogates Slick.</p><p>The Security Department talks about what to do next.</p><p>Cody and Rex have a talk.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"I don't have to talk to you." </p><p>Rex was standing in front of the table Slick was sitting at. They were reusing the provisional interrogation rooms again, that had been originally constructed for Blackout and Spark. But a few changes were made, this time the suspects were handcuffed to the table and the chair they were sitting on. It had been Fox' idea. After he and his team had found him, Fox was raging and made sure they were not getting away. Rex of course noticed his colleague's emotional outrage, that's why Jesse interrogated Crys. </p><p>"Well then we're going to have a problem," Rex replied stalking around the room. </p><p>"I know you, Rex. There's nothing I should be afraid of." Slick was overly confident for someone who had just been arrested. Rex didn't like that, it could mean anything. Was it planned? Did it even matter if he was in here? Because their original theory was that there were at least four people involved, which meant two were missing. </p><p>"You don't know me. Listen," Rex leaned forward, placing both hands on the table and looking Slick right into his eyes. <br/>"You are going to tell me who else is part of all this and I will ensure that your punishment will be not as hard as for the others, got it?"</p><p>"You think I'd care about that?"</p><p>"If you just tell me why you did that, then maybe I'd understand."</p><p>"But that's what you want me to tell you." </p><p>Rex sighed silently to himself and removed his hands from the table. He really didn't want to deal with all of this. He'd rather be somewhere else, maybe on a station that didn't have multiple traitors/murderers on them. He'd rather be with Cody, now that he thought about it. Cody always made him feel better, often just because of his sheer presence alone. </p><p>He thought back to yesterday, which had probably been the closest he has ever been to Cody. Rex hoped they could repeat that sometime. It was definitely a nicer idea, than having to deal with Slick right now. </p><p>Without another word, Rex left the room. He'll send another detective to interrogate him. </p><p>When he left the room, the whole Security Department had gathered outside. They were mostly talking to one another, but stopped as soon as Rex stepped out of the interrogation room. </p><p>"What did he say?" Fives asked. </p><p>"Nothing important. Yet," he replied, looking around the room, until he found Stone, sitting right next to Fox. </p><p>"Stone, you talk to him." </p><p>Stone simply nodded and stood up. Fox was about to say something, but a warning glance from Rex made him stay quiet. He was sure Fox would just resort to violence and that isn't something they supported. But on the other hand, if talking led to nothing, than maybe Fox' methods would. </p><p>"What are we gonna do now?" </p><p>Rex looked at Fox, who impatiently fidgeted with his hands. He sighed.</p><p>"Continue with the investigation," he answered. But honestly, Rex didn't know where to start. While they had two people in custody, they couldn't rest until everyone responsible was caught. And that could take it's time. No one knew the exact number of people involved or what they had planned next. </p><p>"Well, I think it's obvious who we should take care of next," Fives said. </p><p>Rex already knew who he was talking about, as did everyone else. Except Doom and Chaos, who looked at Fives with an expected confused look. </p><p>"Who?" Doom asked.</p><p>"Neyo," Echo replied.</p><p>"Why?" </p><p>"Because he's a straight up psychopath," Hardcase answered from the other side of the room. </p><p>Doom and Chaos still looked confused, which was understandable. They were probably the only ones that never had anything to do with Neyo and the Mechanical Laboratory at all.</p><p>"Please elaborate," Chaos requested.</p><p>"Honestly, it can't even be put into words," Colt said and looked at the floor. </p><p>"Like, everything. The way he talks and acts. What he does to his men," Fives looked at Chaos and Doom and got a little closer with his chair. Both of them got visibly uncomfortable. </p><p>"They are way more accidents in the Mechanical Lab since Neyo is the Head of Department," Hardcase added. <br/>"There are way more people in the Medical Center than usual." </p><p>The room went awfully quiet for a moment. Everyone was looking at the floor or the ceiling, visibly affected by Fives' and Hardcase's words. Rex raised his voice before this demoralizing silence could continue.</p><p>"Our directors specifically said that we won't investigate this issue. Yes, Neyo is not a good person, but other than that, it's very unlikely that he is involved with this."</p><p>"You said he was our prime suspect!" Five exclaimed, standing up from his chair. </p><p>"That was until we caught Slick and Crys!" </p><p>"What has that to do with anything?!"</p><p>Rex thought for a moment. He thought Fives would know, but then he remembered that Domino Squad only recently got transferred to the Resolute. There was no possible way he and the rest of his squad could know.</p><p>"Crys was once in Mechanical, before he got put into Food Production."</p><p>Fives went quiet, his angry expression now shifting to something that could be described as dread or consternation. </p><p>"Oh," he just said and dropped into his chair, visibly regretting his outburst. Both Echo and Hevy laid a hand on his shoulder. </p><p>Rex took a deep breath.</p><p>"Back to our investigation. I'll let Kix make drug tests in case they try to repeat what they did to CT-2911," he then explained. <br/>"I'll also make sure that before the food gets served, it is going to be tested for any foreign substances." </p><p>Security slowly nodded and stood up from their chairs and tables. Together they left the department.</p><p>-</p><p>Cody strolled through the hallways of the station. His destination was the Secruity Department. He'd figured Rex would be there, Cody knew he was one of the people that either got to their quarters very late, or not at all. So he was probably working. </p><p>He turned a corner and it was just like Cody guessed, Rex was coming right towards him. </p><p>"Hey, Rex," Cody greeted, raising a hand and coming to an halt when he got close to him. </p><p>"Cody," Rex replied. "Were you looking for me?"</p><p>"Actually, yes I was. I have to talk with you about something." </p><p>Cody wanted to tell Rex about the power issue regarding Water Management and the IT Department. He still hasn't figured out why exactly, but he guessed it would be better. </p><p>"Well, I think I should start first," Rex said, his tone suddenly a lot more serious than before. Cody frowned, crossing his arms slightly. It took him a moment until it came to his mind, that it was probably about the investigation. But what else should it have been about? It's not like there was anything else to talk about, right? Nothing important. </p><p>"We identified two clones that were involved in the incident. Slick, and... Crys," Rex said, his voice was cautious and... pitiful? It was the first thing Cody noticed, he was feeling sorry for him. And it made it a lot more easier to process the information that, of all people, Crys was responsible for this. </p><p>There were many emotions going through Cody and he felt his hands starting to shake. He knew that at least one of his men was involved in this, but now that he could put a face to it, everything got way worse. Cody just wanted the best for them, he was trying so hard. But this, this only made him think he did an even worse job than he originally thought he did. He was such a bad and awful director. One of his men, someone he had to look after, died because of yet another person that was working under his command. How could he have not seen it? How could he not have noticed what was going on? </p><p>Cody didn't even realised when Rex put his arms around him, pulled him close. He only now realised how his eyes had started watering. </p><p>"It's not your fault, Cody. Okay? It's not your fault," Rex whispered and Cody didn't know if that made him feel better or worse. Because he knew it was his fault. But nonetheless, Rex' voice was still so calming, even though he had heard it so many times, from so many different people. Yet it was so unique. </p><p>Cody didn't know how long they had been standing there, how long he had been silently sobbing into Rex' shoulder, but at some point, Rex had started walking towards the Crew Quarters, tagging Cody along with him. He was kind of glad that it was so late already, it meant there was no one to see them being this close together. For some reason, Cody didn't like the thought of that. That someone could see and judge them. He didn't know if Rex felt any similar. </p><p>They were now getting close to the Crew Quarters and Cody despised the way they were divided. Solely for the reason that his and Rex' quarters were almost on the exact opposite of each other. Rex accompanied him the whole way to his quarters, until they were standing right in front of the door. The hallways were quiet, the only thing that could be heard were the noises from a few different TVs that were coming out of various different quarters.</p><p>Cody had calmed down a little, his eyes were only hurting a little and most of his tears had already dried up on his face. He really wanted Rex to stay with him, he really did. But how high was the chance that Rex wanted the same? They were good friends after all, that might have all been a platonic gesture. Cody hated that thought, but ultimately, it was probably the truth. </p><p>"We can still talk tomorrow," Rex said, pulling Cody back to reality. </p><p>"Sure. I..." There was so much Cody wanted to unpack, to tell, but nothing left his mouth. Rex sighed and he desperately wanted to know why. Did he annoy him? Oh no, what if he was just annoying Rex? </p><p>"I'll see you tomorrow." </p><p>Rex left and Cody still couldn't let go of that thought. What if Rex did all of that only because he pitied him? What if he actually didn't want to have anything to do with him? But he just feels sorry and can't help himself? </p><p>These insecurities wouldn't leave Cody, no matter how much he tried to keep telling himself that there was no reason to assume any of it. It was so bad, it kept him up almost the entire night.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Guys, I promise you Neyo is not an abuser okay, he's just an asshole. Next chapter will elaborate more on that (I hope)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. The end? Yeah you thought</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Neyo doesn't care about security regulations, but he does care for Bacara. </p>
<p>Fox managed to get something out of Slick and Crys, Rex didn't like it very much. </p>
<p>Kenobi and Skywalker are finally back (though they won't appear).</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Neyo rarely saw that many people in the Mechanical Laboratory. While, yes, this department was the one with the most active workers, it was rarely the case that so many different workers of other departments were also here. There were multiple clones from Power Management in the Lab, as well as some from Takeoff and Security. He couldn't identify everyone in the room, but Neyo was pretty sure that some of them were from Biomechanics as well. </p>
<p>They all had their little projects on their own. For example, Neyo had been told by Faie that he, as well Oz, Ringo and the Weapon Specialists were experimenting with plasma and its usage in weapons. Odd, but the exact reason why the Mechanical Laboratory existed in the first place. There were also Denal and Roric, that had started to modify the Micro-Gravity-Drives, to make them faster, more reliable and more efficient. They also mentioned the ability to 'dash'. Whatever that meant. There were of course a few more projects, but Neyo lost track of them and didn't care enough to ask for further information. </p>
<p>He decided to check on Oz and Ringo, as they were currently both in the testing chamber and well, testing their second prototype. Neyo had forgotten what it was exactly supposed to do. But it was the project that had spiked the most interest of investors, so Neyo felt obliged to keep at least a little track of it. </p>
<p>Oz and Ringo were standing in front of a target, that was still unharmed. Oz was holding a rifle-like gun in his hands, while vigorously talking to Ringo, but they stopped as soon as the door closed behind Neyo. They looked at him, their previous enthusiasm vanishing in a second. Neyo could see them tense, Oz grabbed the rifle tighter and Ringo did the same with the datapad. </p>
<p>"Ah, hello, uh, Neyo," Ringo stumbled, obviously not knowing what to say. Oz helped him.<br/>
"Is there anything we can help you with?" </p>
<p>"How is the development of your prototype going?" he asked, inspecting the rifle from a distance. The design seemed to be heavily influenced by the Weapon Specialists. Most of it seemed to be a stylistic choice, and Neyo could already see how Orion would be nitpicking every single detail of it. </p>
<p>"Well, um. We are currently working on... uh, I'll just get the information. It is not stored on here. Be right back," Ringo explained and slowly made his way past Neyo. He could hear his fast footsteps as soon as Ringo was out of sight. </p>
<p>Oz nodded slowly, looking at the floor and stayed silent. </p>
<p>"Fire it," Neyo demanded. He wanted to see the prototype in action. The target was already there, everything Oz had to do now was to pull the trigger. </p>
<p>Oz looked up.</p>
<p>"Oh, I don't... It's not meant to be-," he murmured, but Neyo interrupted him. </p>
<p>"You heard me."</p>
<p>Oz sighed and seemed to think if he should argue further, but he quickly realized that arguing with Neyo would just be suicide, so he decided to comply.<br/>
It was clear that Oz had never fired a gun in his life before, he was holding it as wrong as it was humanely possible. But Neyo said nothing in regards to it, it was their prototype after all. </p>
<p>The rifle had a tremendous recoil, and it didn't even fire something visible or made a sound. It just knocked Oz right into the wall behind him, and due to him holding the rifle wrong, it slipped from his shoulder and hit him right in the face, causing him to bleed from his nose. A bruise would likely form on his face as well. Oz groaned in pain, holding his face with both of his hand and disregarding the rifle completely. He cursed, while slowly standing up from the ground. Neyo guessed that that was probably something Oz wanted to mention. That the rifle wasn't able to fire something physical yet. Well, he didn't mention anything so it was entirely his fault. </p>
<p>In the same moment Ringo came back through the door, his face turning to shock as soon as he saw Oz leaning on the wall with his face and hands all smudged with blood. </p>
<p>"Shit, what happened?" Ringo asked, immediately rushing to help Oz. </p>
<p>"Just an accident," he murmured. It was true, but Ringo didn't seem to believe him.</p>
<p>"Get him to the Medical Center," Neyo ordered. Ringo turned around to look at him, his previous insecure impression was now what could be described as irritated. He looked at Neyo with scepticism and anger, but then turned to leave together with Oz. </p>
<p>They left the room and Neyo followed soon after, gaining quiet a few looks from the workers. He didn't care what they meant, their opinions didn't matter to him anyway. There was only one opinion he was willing to listen to, and that opinion came from the person that had just entered the Mechanical Laboratory. </p>
<p>Neyo had noticed that when Bacara was around, he was automatically in a better mood. He talked different to him as well, as if he was an entirely different person. Neyo didn't know where it came from, he guessed that it was either because Bacara was his supervisor, or simply because of their rather deep friendship. Maybe both. Or maybe something else.</p>
<p>"Director," Neyo greeted. "Good to see you." His tone was rather cheerful, as if someone of his department just didn't get sent to the Medical Center. And to his dismay, it was the first thing Bacara adressed.</p>
<p>"Did Oz just get sent to the Medical Center?" he asked, while he walked past Neyo to get to his office, away from anyone who dared to eavesdrop on their conversation.</p>
<p>"Well, yes," Neyo confirmed, following Bacara with quick steps. He opened the office door and it closed behind both if them. The office was located a bit higher than the rest of the Mechanical Laboratory, so that one could overlook everything that was going on below.</p>
<p>"But it was an accident," he added, though he actually thought it was just Oz' non-existent discernment that led to his injuries.</p>
<p>"You don't have to justify yourself to me." Bacara looked at Neyo, his voice was now way softer than it was when he had entered the Lab. It was nice, Neyo liked the sound of his voice. How he acted differently around him, just like Neyo did. He sighed and sat down on his desk. </p>
<p>"I know," he murmured, scratching the back of his head.</p>
<p>There was a moment of silent between them, Neyo just looked at the floor while Bacara looked through the glass wall down to the Lab. </p>
<p>"Does Rex still think I'm a suspect?" Neyo asked suddenly, raising his head to look at his supervisor. </p>
<p>"I don't know," Bacara replied, shrugging and turning his gaze towards Neyo.<br/>
"We didn't have another meeting yet, but Thorn told me that Security currently has two suspects in custody. Slick, and someone from Food Production."</p>
<p>"Hm." Neyo crossed his arms. </p>
<p>"You... You don't think I'm involved with this, right?"</p>
<p>"Neyo, I'd never," Bacara reassured taking a step closed towards him.</p>
<p>"I don't even understand why he considered you in the first place," he added. </p>
<p>"Me neither. I'd never do anything like that."</p>
<p>There was an odd tension in the room, that neither of them could really identify. But they didn't adress it either. They just looked at each other, not sure what else to say. Neyo was the first to speak again.</p>
<p>"Is there any other reason you came here?"</p>
<p>Bacara shrugged. </p>
<p>"Just wanted to... check in." </p>
<p>"Did you also check in on Biomechanics? I have a feeling all of them are here, rather than in their own workspace," Neyo said, turning his head to look down at the Lab, spotting a few workers amongst his own men. He knew a few of them, he could see Dogma and Tup who were speaking with Gree and Denal. </p>
<p>"Not yet. But Appo told me about a project that they were working on. Together. And for that they need to talk to a lot of different people, apparently. Actually, he should be speaking with Kix right now. Vaughn and Sterling are with him, too," Bacara responded, looking through the glass wall as well.</p>
<p>"They haven't really specified what they're planning exactly, though," he added. </p>
<p>"Hm." </p>
<p>They kept talking for a while, about various different topics, until Bacara decided to leave, leaving Neyo alone in his office. </p>
<p>He looked through the glass again, when a loud crashing sound caught his attention. Crasher and Frost were standing above a broken printer, and had caught the attention of everyone in the lab. Neyo saw Orion drop his datapad, as he started to scold them.<br/>
Neyo sighed.</p>
<p>-</p>
<p>"They confessed."</p>
<p>Rex looked up from his monitor to see Fox standing in the doorway of his office. He had folded his hands neatly behind his back, and Rex noticed how he tried to hide his visible exhaustion. </p>
<p>"Did you interrogate them?" Rex asked, but he already knew the answer. He turned his monitor off and stood up from his chair. Fox avoided eye contact.</p>
<p>"Well, Stone wasn't getting anywhere and Jesse was already out with Kix and Hardcase, soo..."</p>
<p>Rex sighed and crossed his arm in front of his chest. He shouldn't have let them alone, or at least made sure Fox was nowhere near the suspects.</p>
<p>"Let us focus on the information I could gather, okay? I am sure Patch is taking good care of Slick and Crys in the Med Bay." </p>
<p>Fox waited for Rex to say something, but the director just stared at him, probably arguing with himself if he should punch Fox right here and then. So Fox started speaking again, taking a tiny step back, just in case.</p>
<p>"Well, they said it was just them. And it makes sense, because, well, Crys was once in Mechanical, which explains the damage on the communication. Slick was always Head of Cargo Bay, so no experience of engineering whatsoever. And because he is with Information Transmission, he could've known about the CC schedule regardless," Fox explained.</p>
<p>Rex thought for moment. Maybe they had been wrong about the number people involved. It made sense the way Fox put it, but he still has the feeling they were missing something. </p>
<p>"Crys was an engineer?", he asked.</p>
<p>"A mechanic, to be exact. Has worked with Gree and Denal before."</p>
<p>Rex nodded. That meant, this whole thing was over now? They caught the suspects, and the station was safe again.</p>
<p>"We need more people in Security to properly prevent things like this from ever happening again," Rex murmured and walked past Fox out of his office. He needed to talk to Cody- ... and the other directors of course. </p>
<p>"Well, I once heard the station directors talk about some special trained clones who are finishing their training soon."</p>
<p>Rex turned around, one brow raised. </p>
<p>"Are you implying we should use this incident for our reasoning to get those clones on the station?" </p>
<p>"I'm just stating facts."</p>
<p>Rex sighed and turned around again.</p>
<p>"I want Blitz, Colt and Havoc to be on prison duty at all times."</p>
<p>"Yes, sir." </p>
<p>-</p>
<p>"So... it's over?"</p>
<p>"Correct." </p>
<p>The directors had all gathered in the Director's Office again. Rex had told them about what Fox had found out. </p>
<p>"But that doesn't change the fact that we are without communication," Bacara said. His arms were crossed, voice low. There was nothing left of the softness he had shown towards Neyo just a few hours earlier. </p>
<p>"About that," Thorn spoke up. "I thought about sending some of the pilots down to the Shiaparelli Outpost." </p>
<p>"Shouldn't we rather send them to the Lunar Gateway? I mean, that's where Director Kenobi and Skywalker are," Cody proposed, shifting in his seat.</p>
<p>"Cody, tell me, do you want to send the pilots on a One-Day-Trip or a Three-Week-Trip?" </p>
<p>Cody didn't reply, he knew for himself that that was a stupid proposal.</p>
<p>"Who do you recommend?" Rex quickly, taking the attention from Cody. He knew his friend always felt really uncomfortable in situations like that. </p>
<p>"Odd Ball. He is easily the best pilot of Takeoff. With him, Jar'galaar and... maybe Blackout," Thorn answered. </p>
<p>There was a moment of silence. Everyone thought about the idea for a second, deciding whether or not it was a good idea. But before anyone could say something, they heard fast steps approaching. They all turned to the door, and Cody stood up from his chair, positioning himself next to Rex. </p>
<p>The door opened and Spark stopped right in the door frame, panting, trying to catch his breath.</p>
<p>"Spark? What are you doing here?" Thorn asked, taking a step forward.</p>
<p>Spark held a hand up, still panting and it looked like he was about to collapse. But he didn't. The engineer straightened himself up and looked at the directors. </p>
<p>"One, why are your comms not on?" he asked, disbelief and confusion in his voice. Maybe a little bit of annoyance. He kept talking, before anyone could give a decent answer.</p>
<p>"Two, Kenobi and Skywalker are in Takeoff and we've been looking all over the station-" </p>
<p>Spark couldn't finish his sentence. The directors rushed past him, sprinting down the hallway and turning a corner. He watched then leave, still standing in the doorframe. Yeah no, he wasn't going to run all the way back. </p>
<p>-</p>
<p>It went all back to normal eventually. Rex had told Kenobi and Skywalker about the whole incident. From the death of CT-2911, the digitoxin, to the broken communication and the arrest of Slick and Crys. Both of them were immediately taken to the Shiaparelli Outpost, where they would get sent back to Earth. Security measurements were taken and Skywalker mentioned that the Security department was getting 'reinforcements', which was probably about the same group Fox had told Rex earlier about. </p>
<p>There was a short period of time, were some of the higher heads of RSA were considering shutting the Resolute down, or switching the clones out, but Kenobi and Skywalker, as well as the other directors, could convince them not to. </p>
<p>It didn't take long for everyone to get used to their work environment again, most of the clones had just ignored the whole incident, thinking the directors would manage it, and others didn't even know about it in the first place. Well, they did after Slick and Crys got sent off, but besides a few emotional outbursts, nothing really changed. </p>
<p>So, everything is like it always was. Rex and Cody were both suppressing their feelings for each other, Neyo kept being really dismissive about security regulations and Domino Squad kept gaming.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Whoa this really felt like an ending didn't it? Well good for you, it isn't the ending. Rex and Cody aren't together yet, neither are Bacara and Neyo nor Blackout and Spark (and also other secret pairings that I won't reveal now). This means, this story will continue, because I have still one arc planned. But first, I will update a probably really long chapter, then comes some fluff and more humor, and then the new arc will start. I think that's a good plan. </p>
<p>Also, sorry for taking like a 2-week break, will probably not do it again.</p>
<p>Anyway, have a nice day.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. The First Battle of the Resolute (Part 1)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The most serious game of paintball.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>So, as I was writing this chapter, I heavily underestimated how long it is going to be. </p>
<p>That's why I'm splitting it into two parts.</p>
<p>This chapter is now roughly 12k words and it's only the first half.</p>
<p>I also divided it into different acts, so, Idk, it is a little bit more... I don't know a proper english word for it. So you can navigate it better? Something like this. </p>
<p>So, important things out of the way. Grab a snack. Enjoy.</p>
<p>(Also this is barely edited. If you find any major grammar problems or just words missing let me know)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Act 1: The Disagreement</strong>
</p>
<p>It had started harmless. A simple disagreement between colleagues. Nobody could have had imagined that it would get that bad. </p>
<p>It was just a normal day in the cafeteria. Not many people were here, it was only 6 AM CST, most of the workers were still asleep. Not the guys from the Mechanical Laboratory though, they were already up and a few of them were grabbing something to eat. Others had sat down on one of the tables, preferring to eat here rather than at their workspace. </p>
<p>But something was off, something seemed not quiet right. </p>
<p>Crasher noticed it first. Mostly by accident, but he couldn't stop staring. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. He had known Orion and Kosmos since the station had officially launched. They had been working together in the Lab for the whole time span the station was up. They were never separated, not once. Had always been in the Lab.</p>
<p>But Crasher would've never guessed that Orion and Kosmos would be capable of something like that. Something that... horrific.</p>
<p>He eventually walked over to them, couldn't take his eyes off that monstrosity Orion had just created. </p>
<p>"Orion? What... What are you doing?" Crasher spoke way more quiet than he usually did. It was just so... disturbing.</p>
<p>Both Orion and Kosmos looked at Crasher, visibly confused. They looked at each other for second, until Orion answered him.</p>
<p>"I am... making myself some cereal?" </p>
<p>"But why are you making it like <em>that</em>?" </p>
<p>Crasher's sudden raise of his voice caught the attention of the other workers. They turned to look at them, but that was about it. Everyone was way too tired to deal with Crasher right now, so they just ignored him. Until they heard, what their conversation was about.</p>
<p>"What do you mean?"</p>
<p>"Why did you put the milk in first?!" Crahser exclaimed, finally lifting his eyes to look at Orion's still confused face.</p>
<p>That caught the interest of the workers. It didn't take long until they were overrun by other clones of the Mechanical Laboratory. And it took even less time until they were all arguing with each other. It was quiet at first, but got louder with every minute passing, until the cooks had enough of it. </p>
<p>Cooker was the first to start trying to get them to stop, Longshot and Gearshift tried to help, but it all led to nothing. </p>
<p>"Okay, you know what. They're not listening to us. Get Rex in here. Or Cody. Or Thorn, I don't even care," Cooker eventually gave up, taking a few steps back from the pile of arguing clones. </p>
<p>Longshot and Gearshift nodded and were about to leave, but Longshot stopped in his tracks.</p>
<p>"But, we do all collectively agree that the milk goes before the cereal, right?"</p>
<p>"Of course it fucking does, what are we, stupid?"</p>
<p>- </p>
<p>All of the directors came to cafeteria. The screaming could already be heard all the way to the Crew Quarters, so they would've probably shown up anyway, without Longshot and Gearshift hastily knocking on their doors.</p>
<p>"What is this all about?" Thorn asked, rubbing the back of his head. He was visibly tired, as the rest of the directors were. They normally kept sleeping until 8 or 9 AM, so this was a heavy disturbance on their sleep schedule.</p>
<p>"They're arguing about some dumb shit, just get them to stop, so we can all go back to work," Cooker said, annoyed. </p>
<p>"What are they arguing about?" Cody asked, trying to understand the screaming from the workers. </p>
<p>"If milk goes in before cereal, or the other way around," Longshot answered.</p>
<p>"Well, it's obvious, milk goes in first, problem solved," Bacara said and shrugged. </p>
<p>Rex and Cody both looked at the other director. </p>
<p>"No. No you're wrong. Cereal goes in first, what are you, a fucking psychopath?"</p>
<p>Cody had never heard Rex swear before, but he didn't <em>not</em> like it.</p>
<p>"Exactly," Cody agreed, not yet quiet processing what he just heard. </p>
<p>"Sorry guys, but Bacara is right. Milk goes in first, that's just a rule." </p>
<p>"No. Not you Thorn, I thought you were normal," a new voice spoke.</p>
<p>They turned around and- </p>
<p>Since when was half the station standing behind them? </p>
<p>Matchstick and the rest of Takeoff were standing only a few feet away from them. Cody could see some workers from Power Management among them. Even some of the nurses were there. </p>
<p>The cooks sighed in the background, as two large parties formed in the cafeteria, with the directors at the very front. It was a rare sight to see them all so <em>aggressive</em> in what should've been a simple discussion. The cafeteria was slowly filling with more people, certainly not with all the workers, but there were a good chunk of them here. The cafeteria wasn't even that packed on cake day and nearly not as loud.</p>
<p>But it all came to an halt, when Domino Squad showed up. Oh, Domino Squad. If it weren't for them, maybe it all would've been fine. But they of course had to get involved. </p>
<p>"Hey! There's a very simple solution to this disagreement!" Fives shouted and stood between the two fronts. The others were standing right behind him. The cafeteria went quiet, but only for a second.</p>
<p>"Yeah? Because I don't think people that stupid even know what a 'disagreement' is!" someone shouted from what would later be officially referred to, as the 'Milk Battalion'. </p>
<p>The fronts started shouting again. This time Hevy was the one to shut them up.</p>
<p>"Listen! We can resolve this issue once and for all!"</p>
<p>Everyone went quiet again, but they were still glaring at the opposing force. A few looked to the directors, expecting them to make a choice.</p>
<p>Rex gave in first.<br/>
"What is your proposal?" he asked, finally looking at Domino Squad properly. </p>
<p>"We'll show you," Fives answered, a tiny grin sneaking its way onto his face. Cutup was clearly trying hide his joy, but failed miserably. While they were walking, he made tiny little jumps, kind of like a little kid. Hevy didn't really do better than him.</p>
<p>The directors hesitated for a moment, but eventually they followed Domino Squad. They were willing to do everything to convince the other side that they were wrong. </p>
<p>-</p>
<p>"Sketch!"</p>
<p>"Domino Squad! We were wondering when you would finally show up!" </p>
<p>The directors were visibly confused. What were they doing in the Cargo Bay? And why did Sketch (now the Head of Department after Slick's betrayal) seem to expect them?</p>
<p>"The opportunity has arrived," Fives said and Sketch nodded knowingly. </p>
<p>"We were already thinking of throwing all of that stuff out an airlock, you know," Sketch told them, as they were heading to the other side of the big room. </p>
<p>"Well, we're glad that you didn't," Echo replied. No one of them seemed to bother that literally no one else understood what they were talking about.</p>
<p>They took the stairs, up to the third floor and then walked all the way across again. Most of the people from the cafeteria had already stopped following them, half of them waiting downstairs and the other half still in the cafeteria.</p>
<p>Sketch stopped in front of a rather large door and quickly typed in a short password on the panel right beside it. </p>
<p>The room behind the door was way larger inside than it looked from the outisde. It was several meters in width and length and was stacked to brim. </p>
<p>Nobody said anything for a while. The directors couldn't quiet believe what they were seeing, especially Thorn.</p>
<p>"That's what has been behind this door? That is what you didn't want to show me? What 'wasn't important' and just 'minor things'?" Thorn stepped forward, looking between Sketch and the content of the room.</p>
<p>"I've made a promise to Domino Squad, and I keep my promises," Sketch explained and crossed his arms in front of his chest.</p>
<p>"How many... How many paintball guns are those?" Cody asked, taken aback by the sheer amount of firearms inside the room. It wasn't lit, you couldn't even see the back of the room. </p>
<p>"Enough for the whole station, and a few more," Droidbait answered.</p>
<p>"With enough ammunition to supply a whole battalion," Cutup added, still grinning.</p>
<p>Thorn blinked multiple times.</p>
<p>"How did you get all of this up here?" he asked.</p>
<p>"We have our methods. And a few friends in Takeoff," Sketch answered. </p>
<p>"Should we really authorize this?" Cody asked after a short period of silence. </p>
<p>"If this is the only way to convince you, that you're clearly in the wrong, then yes," Bacara answered, already starting to examine a few of the rifles.</p>
<p>Thorn looked at Rex and Cody. </p>
<p>"I agree," he said after a while.</p>
<p>"Then it's decided," Rex responded.</p>
<p>"Yess," Cutup whispered, high-fiving Droidbait. </p>
<p>-</p>
<p>
  <strong>Act 2: The calm before the storm</strong>
</p>
<p>The conflict didn't get physical right away. Everyone had agreed to start everything on the next free day, at precisely 12 PM CST. That would be four days after the 'Cafeteria Conflict'. Things were tense during this period. Work got harder, as everyone slowly learned about the opinions of the people around them. Whole Squads and friend groups got torn apart because of this.</p>
<p>It had hit Shadow Squad especially hard. Matchstick and Flyby would later join the 'Cereal Legion', while the rest of their squad would go with the Milk Battalion. It was almost unnatural to see them always having a good amount of distance between each other. They didn't eat together anymore, and few of them wouldn't even come to work in the first place.</p>
<p>The Security Department wasn't happy about the choice of some of their members either. Stone would go to the Milk Battalion as well, and Fox had almost beaten him up, but Jesse and Hardcase were able to stop him from doing so.<br/>
What was worse, the Weapon Specialists would be parting ways as well. Colt would stay with Rex, but Havoc and Blitz would leave to join Bacara and Thorn. There was a loud and long argument between them in the Security Department when they found out about each other's opinions.<br/>
Doom would join the Milk Battalion as well.</p>
<p>If you looked at it, every single department was facing the same issues. No one could agree on anything and the four days everyone had to keep working were like hell. There was at least one argument every ten to twenty minutes, but no one got physically violent. That was the only thing everyone could agree on. That the conflict would start on the day off and not a single minute earlier. The only department that was spared from the hours of screaming was Supply Connections and Management, or the Wolfpack, as they were called most of the time. But that wasn't really a surprise, they were doing everything together anyway, so you could expect that they would all have the same opinion on this issue.</p>
<p>As the day approached, things quieted down a bit. The clones who knew how to handle a firearm properly started teaching the others how to use them correctly. Both sides had already decided on a name for their side, and they slowly started to build a structure, a hierarchy. </p>
<p>Cody had been made the marshall commander of the Cereal Legion, and Rex got assigned the title of captain. Much to his dismay, but Rex later said he didn't like the title of commander anyway. </p>
<p>Bacara was made the marshall commander of the Milk Battalion, but their captain wasn't Thorn, but Keeli. And that's about it with the information that everyone had. Further details into each parties command hierarchy was only known to the ones who were directly affected by it.</p>
<p>But, there was a third party actually. </p>
<p>Kix had made the proposal to make the Medical Center 'neutral ground'. He, as well as some of the nurses, would stay there and then take care of the injured and fallen. The directors allowed it, but besides from them, no one was allowed to stay neutral. Every single clone on the station was questioned. Some tried to hide, not wanting to participate in the upcoming battle. But the Wolfpack found them sooner or later. </p>
<p>Then the day finally came. At 9 AM CST, Domino Squad started to hand out the firearms, as well as ammunition. They made sure to split everything completely even between both parties. They also handed out 'armor', though it really was just the bare minimum. It consisted of a basic black undersuit, a tactical vest and cargo shorts of the same color ('for the pockets', as Hevy had explained to someone from Biomechanics). They also handed out elbow and knee pads, gloves, some shoes, as well as eye protection glasses, which were all useful yeah, but then they handed out balaclavas? And caps? Radios? At some point it seemed like some low-budget military movie, but Domino Squad insisted, that everyone had to have the same gear, so it would be fair. </p>
<p>"But we have comms?" Almost everyone had asked.</p>
<p>"Yeah, but those are <em>radios.</em>" Domino Squad had answered. </p>
<p>Then, every one got a paint job. To better distinguish everyone from one another, the two sides picked a color to paint their armor with. The Cereal Legion chose blue, the Milk Battalion red. The color was applied to everyone in the same locations. A vertical stripe on the cap, another vertical stripe on each leg, starting from the knee pads, and stripes going from the shoulder all the way down to the gloves. The Cereal legion decided for themselves to distinguish in ranks as well. Everyone who got the rank of commander, captain or sergeant could decide to put another color onto his armor, so they could be identified more easily on the battlefield.<br/>
Cody immediately took advantage of that opportunity and decided to put more orange onto his armor, as he had already complained before about Rex' choice of color. Not much, just a little. They had made a joke out of it.</p>
<p>Rex and Appo didn't add another color to their armor, just extra markings. Vaughn, on the other hand, surprisingly had put extra effort into his painting. He chose orange as well, just as Cody did, but it looked a lot more reddish, while Cody's orange was more yellow-like. The orange was also only present on his cap and he put little white markings on it, too. Everyone had been quiet surprised, as no one really expected Vaughn to be that much of a painter, being an engineer and all. Sterling really wanted to copy Vaughn's look, but more or less accepted that it was for clones with high rank only. </p>
<p>Waxer had followed Cody's example and chose the same orange as he did. But he didn't put as much color on his armor than Cody had done.<br/>
Davijaan, mostly referred to as Odd Ball, had chosen yellow as his secondary color and did something similar to Vaughn. Only painted the cap and nothing else. </p>
<p>It was rather obvious that Wolffe chose gray, and after a rather long debate, the rest of the Wolfpack was also allowed to paint their armor gray. But it was an exception, Echo had repeated that at least five times. Sterling hadn't been too happy with that, but Vaughn had shut him up. </p>
<p>Ponds painted his armor brown, and as it later turned out, Keeli had done the exact same thing. They were glaring at each other everytime they saw each other on the battlefield. </p>
<p>Fox was a similar case to the Wolfpack. He didn't choose gray, no, but the rest of the clones he was in charge of copied his look as well. Echo had made an exception again, and was happy that Sterling hadn't been around. Fox' division also consisted of only four people in total, and they wouldn't hang around on the battlefield, too, so it would be fine. Besides Cody, they were also the only ones that had their entire cap painted in just one color, which was the same orange Vaughn had used. </p>
<p>The whole paint job took way more time than everyone had expected (and was also way more fun), so the start of the conflict was extended to 3 PM CST. </p>
<p>-</p>
<p>
  <strong>Act 3: The First Lobby Battle</strong>
</p>
<p>It was obvious the Lobby would be the first battle location. Through the Lobby, you could gain access to various different departments, as well as the Crew Quarters and the cafeteria. It also hosted the elevator, from which you could go to all the departments on lower level, as well as the higher level. Whoever controlled the Lobby would control most of the station.</p>
<p>The commanders and captains of the Cereal Legion had gathered in the Director's Office. They had claimed it as their HQ right away and it was probably the best place to use for that purpose. It was only accessible from the Lobby and you could oversee the whole Lobby from up there as well, which would give them a massive advantage to the upcoming Lobby Battle. Oddly, there was also a connection to the Zero Gravity Tunnels in the office. Weird, but convenient. But they still should ask Kenobi and Skywalker <em>why</em> it was there.</p>
<p>"How are we gonna approach this?"</p>
<p>Everyone immediately looked at Cody, he was the marshall commander after all. Cody looked back at them and then down to the Lobby. No one from the Milk Battalion was there, yet. But they would be there soon, so it would be better if he got his men into position first. </p>
<p>"It's about the Lobby... So, I think Rex and Appo should be on the front with their men. Vaughn, you will go into position somewhere, where the enemy can't see you. In case we are outnumbered," Cody explained and got a few nods from the people around him. </p>
<p>"Fox," He turned to look at the commander, who was standing right next to the door.<br/>
"I want the Guard to secure the Security Department. With the intel of the security cams, we might get an advantage."</p>
<p>Fox saluted and then folded his hands neatly behind his back.<br/>
"Yes, sir," he answered and was already out the door. </p>
<p>Cody might not be with the Security Department, but he has the mind of a strategic. It was kind of impressive how much thought he put into all of this. </p>
<p>"Odd Ball, you are going to secure Takeoff. We don't wanna get ambushed from behind.<br/>
Ponds, same with the cafeteria and Crew Quarters. You go with him, Waxer." </p>
<p>More nods, and then salutes. Odd Ball, Ponds and Waxer left the Director's Office. </p>
<p>"I'm gonna stay here and give orders when needed." </p>
<p>Rex, Appo and Vaughn saluted as well and then left the room as well. The only one left now was Wolffe.</p>
<p>"What are we gonna do?" He asked. There was clear excitement in his eyes, but he tried to play it cool.</p>
<p>"Nothing."</p>
<p>His excitement dropped.</p>
<p>"Why?"</p>
<p>"The Lobby has no connection to the tunnels. I want you and the rest of the pack to stay in the tunnels and keep an eye out for any clones that try to use them as a way to get from A to B, got it? No one uses the tunnels without me knowing."</p>
<p>"What if we encounter an enemy?"</p>
<p>"Shoot on sight."</p>
<p>"Got it."</p>
<p>Wolffe saluted and went to the back of the office, to entry point of the tunnels. The tunnels will come in handy in a battle, maybe not this one, but Cody had a feeling about it.<br/>
He turned to the glass wall and saw Rex and Appo, as well as their men go into position. And on the other side of the Lobby, coming out of the two stairwells from left and right, the enemy got into position as well. But Cody couldn't identify any of them, which was solely because of the armor they wore. </p>
<p>Cody took off his balaclava and the eye protection glasses, he wouldn't be needing them up here. </p>
<p>-</p>
<p>Rex took cover behind a table that had been turned to the side. Another thing that the clones had done as the day of action had approached. They slowly changed every room to be more like a battlefield. Turning tables around, stacking chairs onto each other. The Cargo Bay had been raided for its boxes and crates and any content that could be modified into cover in some way. Because the Lobby was mostly empty, except for a reception that was facing Takeoff, and a few seating accommodations (that couldn't be moved), it had been filled with crates from Cargo Bay, but also with a few tables from the lounge and the cafeteria. </p>
<p>Jesse came from the back and knelt down besides Rex.</p>
<p>"Everyone is in position," he reported and Rex nodded. He took the radio that had been placed onto his tactical vest.</p>
<p>"Everything's ready, commander." It felt weird calling Cody that, at the beginning at least. </p>
<p>"Copy."</p>
<p>They didn't have any watches on them, no way to tell the time. They'd have to wait for Cody's command to shoot, or wait for the Milk Battalion to do the start. </p>
<p>The rules came to Rex' mind. When Domino Squad handed out the equipment, they made sure that everyone got the rules. </p>
<p>Number one, every shot has to be treated like a real shot. Means, if shot in the head, you're dead. Shot in the leg? Might survive.</p>
<p>Number two, if you're dead, you drop to the floor and don't move until you get either carried to the Medical Center, or no one who lives is around to see you go to the Medical Center. </p>
<p>Number three, if you're dead, you stay dead. </p>
<p>Number four, whoever wins is right in their opinion, and no discussions can be made about the topic in the future. </p>
<p>And number five, the battle is over when one side is completely eliminated.</p>
<p>That's it, that's the rules. Everything else was allowed. </p>
<p>The radio made a noise.</p>
<p>"Fire." </p>
<p>Soon enough the Lobby was painted in red and blue and the first men went down, staying completely still on the floor. </p>
<p>Rex realized quickly that they were drastically outnumbered, the enemy moved closer with every minute passing. Taking out the men on the front and then taking their cover. They almost immediately called Vaughn to help, and he did. But it wasn't too long, few of his men went down, too. </p>
<p>"We should fall back!" Appo screamed over the radio. But no, Rex wasn't going to let them take control over the Lobby, not this soon. He sank behind his cover and took his radio. </p>
<p>"Domino Squad! I want you, Colt and Chaos on the front! Push them back!" he ordered. It would be the most effective choice. They had the best experience in combat, and Domino Squad might have little more, due to their excessive consumption of first-person shooters. </p>
<p>"Copy that!" Fives called back. Rex could see him, and probably Echo and Hevy move next to him, pushing forward and past his cover. A quick glance to the side, Colt was doing the same, with Chaos and the other two of Domino. </p>
<p>It worked, they should've done that sooner. </p>
<p>"Jesse, go with Colt," he ordered and Jesse moved from his cover to the other side of the Lobby. </p>
<p>Rex stood up, both his pistols raised and pushed with Domino Squad. Their enemy fell back, moving farther and farther to the end of the Lobby. Well, that was until something got thrown at them. Was that a grenade?</p>
<p>The captain followed the object with his eyes, as it landed right next to Cutup and Droidbait. Their were visibly taken aback, and a second later covered in red paint. They dropped to the floor.</p>
<p>Rex heard Domino Squad cry out their names through the radio. They seemed sad at first, and then angry.</p>
<p>"That wasn't stuff we had handed out!"</p>
<p>"That's not part of the weapons!"</p>
<p>"That's not <em>fair!</em>"</p>
<p>Maybe it wasn't. Domino Squad insisted everyone had the same equipment. But the rules didn't forbid to add anything to it, but they seemed to have forgotten about that. And with most of the Mechanical Laboratory on the enemy side, it was to be expected that they would pull something like that.</p>
<p>"Water Management, replace them!" Rex ordered and the three of them quickly took their place. Domino Squad had stopped to complain through the radio. They could push the enemy a little farther back, but they had fortified themselves between a bunch of crates and tables. There was no way to get them out of there, especially since their side didn't have any grenades with them. Speaking of, another one got thrown and this time, it landed right by the guys from Water Management. They dropped. </p>
<p>"If they keep throwing these things we won't have a chance!" Appo said through the radio. And this time, he was right. They didn't know how many more the enemy had. They could just spam them and everyone in the Lobby would be dead by the end of it. Rex was about to confirm the retreat, but Hevy occupied the radio.</p>
<p>"Not if I have anything to say about it."</p>
<p>Rex turned his head and saw Hevy reading his gun.</p>
<p>"Hevy, what are you doing?" He wasn't the only that had asked, Fives and Echo looked at him as well. </p>
<p>"My duty." </p>
<p>"Hevy!"</p>
<p>But Hevy was already gone, clenched his hands tight around his gun and ran right into the fortification. They couldn't see what was going on, but there was a lot of shooting, and then an explosion. And then another. The enemy retreated and ran back to the stairwells where they had come from. </p>
<p>There was a short moment of silence. </p>
<p>"Hevy!" Both Fives and Echo cried out and stormed forward, tossing their guns to the side and disappeared behind the fortification. </p>
<p>Then the realization hit. They won. They won the very first battle. </p>
<p>"Good job," Cody said through the radio.</p>
<p>The Lobby bursted out in joy and cheering. Everyone was hugging each other, cheering and jumping. But it didn't last long, because then everyone finally acknowledged the bodies around them. And the room fell into silence again.</p>
<p>Clones knelt down next to their fallen brothers, honoring them. Telling them, they didn't die for no reason. That they've accomplished something. </p>
<p>It was weird if you thought back to the actual meaning of this battle in the first place. </p>
<p>-</p>
<p>They were back in the Director's Office. </p>
<p>"We've hit them hard. They lost a good bunch of their soldiers in this battle," Cody said, looking down at the Lobby, that was now painted in red and blue. There were no more bodies on the floor, everyone had gone to the Medical Center. </p>
<p>"What next?" Vaughn asked and Cody just shrugged.</p>
<p>"I don't know. We have control over the Lobby. They'd have to make the next move." </p>
<p>"Well... We could try to find their HQ," Wolffe proposed and everyone turned to look at him.</p>
<p>"I mean, they know where ours is, but we don't know here theirs is. The pack and I can find out where it is located." </p>
<p>"Hm."</p>
<p>Cody thought about it for a moment. They could try and launch an attack on their HQ to take out their commanders, but at the same time, it could also just be a waste. It could very well be the office of Neyo (as Bacara's would be a very bad idea), or it could be an entire department. Cody wouldn't want to risk it.</p>
<p>"No. Let them have their HQ, I don't care where it is."</p>
<p>Wolffe wanted to protest, opening his mouth and raised his arm a little, but decided for the better. </p>
<p>Then, their radios made a noise. </p>
<p>"Hello? This is Odd Ball- ... We're being attacked!" </p>
<p>Everyone snapped their head to Cody, waiting for an order. The commander looked around the room, hectic in his eyes. </p>
<p>"Uhh...," he said and tried to come up with a plan. </p>
<p>"Rex! You and your men go and help him! Uhm, Appo, you too. ... Vaughn, you'll take another route to Takeoff- ... and try to get behind the enemy. Talk to Fox, he... he has his eyes on the cams," he ordered, stumbling over his own words, as Cody always thought faster than he talked. </p>
<p>Everyone nodded, a quick "Yes, sir" and a salute, and then they left. Wolffe kept looking at him and Cody sighed.</p>
<p>"There's a lock on the upper levels of Takeoff, right?" </p>
<p>Wolffe nodded.</p>
<p>"Support them from above."</p>
<p>The leader of the Wolfpack nodded again, and saluted. A very enthusiastic "Yes, sir" left his mouth and he disappeared in the tunnels. </p>
<p>Cody sat down on a chair and started fidgeting with his hands. He hoped he didn't just sent them to a suicide mission. How could he ever look himself in the mirror again, knowing that so many people, so many clones, so many brothers, had died just because of him. That <em>Rex</em> had died because of him. There was so much he had to tell him first. About- </p>
<p>Cody looked up. </p>
<p>"Wait, this is paintball." </p>
<p>It made him procrastinate even more.</p>
<p>-</p>
<p>
  <strong>Act 4: The Battle of Takeoff Station</strong>
</p>
<p>Rex and Appo stormed through the hallway, pistols and rifles ready to shoot. Shots could already be heard from their location. They gathered at the door, quickly glanced over their men, and then opened the door. </p>
<p>Immediately someone of them got shot and everyone ducked. They quickly sneaked behind cover, keeping their heads low. The clones at the back didn't make it though, and got eliminated by a grenade. </p>
<p>Rex and Appo joined Odd Ball behind a crate.</p>
<p>"Glad you're here. They came out of no where," the pilot said and fired a few shots towards the enemy. Someone went down. </p>
<p>"We're in an awful position," Appo commented. They barely had enough cover for all the men they'd brought with them.<br/>
Rex peeked over the crate, and squinted, trying to make out a weakness in their formation. His eyes laid onto the door behind them, it led to a hallway that was connected to the Lobby, as well as to a stair well. Vaughn would come through there any second, their enemy was in no way attentive to the door behind them. But as Rex looked closer, he understood why. It had been locked, the panel was blinking red.</p>
<p>"Dammit, Rex, shoot!" Appo gave him a clap onto the back of his head. He wanted to complain, but decided this wasn't the right place for it. Instead, he drew his pistols again and fired, hitting the cover of the enemy most of the time. He was better at hand-to-hand combat anyway. </p>
<p>"Vaughn isn't coming! The door is locked!" He told the two commanders, who dropped down behind the crate. </p>
<p>"What?" They both asked simultaneously.</p>
<p>"Seems like they've prepared."</p>
<p>"Pff, Keeli thinks he is smart that's all," Appo commented and went back to shooting. </p>
<p>"How do you know Keeli is one of them?"</p>
<p>"I'd recognize his posture no matter how many layers he puts on." </p>
<p>"Looks awfully close to Ponds' armor."</p>
<p>"Less talking, more shooting!" Odd Ball hit both of them on the back of their head. And they did. But it didn't seem to matter much. Few of the enemies went down, but a lot of their men did. Rex sighed and got down behind cover again.</p>
<p>"We should call for reinforcements!" He proposed, but was already grabbing his radio, not really waiting for their approval.</p>
<p>"No! Wait! This would only resort in more losses." Odd Ball reached over Appo and grabbed Rex' hand, to stop him from contacting anyone. </p>
<p>"Too late, they're already here." Appo snatched Odd Ball's hand to the side, and pointed up, to the upper levels of Takeoffs. The other two followed his gaze and their eyes went wide in surprise. </p>
<p>"How did the Wolfpack get up there?" Odd Ball asked.</p>
<p>"There's a lock there, idiot. Have you never been to your own station before?" Appo replied.</p>
<p>"Well, yes, but-"</p>
<p>"Less talking, more shooting. Be happy about the reinforcements and keep firing!" Rex hit them both on the back of their head. Was kind of their thing now, apparently.</p>
<p>The Wolfpack had the high ground, there was no way they were going to lose this now. How wrong they were. </p>
<p>While the commanding officer's stayed behind their cover, some clones got overly confident. Thinking now with the help of the Wolfpack, they could push the enemy just like that. </p>
<p>Matchstick lead Flyby and Blue Squad out of their cover and they stormed towards the enemy lines. It looks like the rest of Shadow Squad had the same idea, as they did the exact same thing. They were shooting each other in the open, no cover anywhere near them. </p>
<p>Odd Ball tried to call them back, but everything happened way too fast. Axe got a kill, and then died himself. Swoop could get both Contrail and Broadside, but Blue Squad was down not a second later. Flyby died without a kill, got targeted by someone from the back. Matchstick and Tag killed each other. </p>
<p>"Holy shit!" </p>
<p>Blackout ducked behind a box, grabbing his gun tight. Spark looked up at him.</p>
<p>"Blue Squad just got fucking eradicated! And Flyby and Matchstick, too." </p>
<p>Spark stared at Blackout with wide eyes and then turned around quickly to check how many of them were left. It weren't many, they were outnumbered. Just like in the First Lobby Battle. Where were the guys from Security when you needed them? Spark thought he could see Fives and Echo, as well as Colt and Chaos in the back. Jesse was there, too. What were they doing back there? They had to move to the front.</p>
<p>The engineer looked towards where Rex, Appo and Odd Ball were positioned. He was about to turn on the radio, but Blackout grabbed his shoulder. </p>
<p>"Don't. Just wait for the command to retreat."</p>
<p>"No," Spark protested. "We can win this!"</p>
<p>Blackout took Spark's head with his hands and turned it, so he looked at the spot where the Wolfpack was. Or where it should be. They were gone.</p>
<p>"Even the Wolfpack retreated! Just wait it out!" </p>
<p>"No! I'm not going to retreat like a coward!" </p>
<p>Spark grabbed his rifle and stood up, exposing his whole upper body to the enemy. He fired, and hit one clone in the shoulder. Then Spark got shot in the stomach. </p>
<p>"Spark!" </p>
<p>Blackout dropped his gun, to catch Spark from falling to the ground. He held him tight to his chest. The engineer was holding the spot where he got shot, red paint covered his hand, while his other held onto Blackout. </p>
<p>"No, don't leave me." Blackout's voice was merely a whisper, but Spark heard him clearly, despite the loud shooting that was going on.</p>
<p>"It's fine." Spark whispered back.<br/>
"My time has come." </p>
<p>"No!" Blackout protested, and he didn't even notice how watery his eyes got.<br/>
"No, no, no, no. Stay here, please. Stay with me." He tossed Spark's cap away and removed his eye protection, and then the balaclava. To see his face, to feel it. He cupped his face with his hands, caressing Spark's cheeks with his gloved fingers. </p>
<p>"I don't want to leave you behind." </p>
<p>Spark grabbed Blackout's wrists, tight and looked him straight in the eyes. Small little tears ran down his face, and he was pretty sure it was the same case with Blackout, but he couldn't see it. Not with the eye protection and the balaclava. </p>
<p>"Blackout," Spark whispered.</p>
<p>"Spark."</p>
<p>Neither of them heard the grenade landing right next to them.</p>
<p>Rex had watched them, he'd seen what was going on between the two. They had to leave as soon as possible. He turned to Appo and Odd Ball.</p>
<p>"Wolfpack is gone," Odd Ball sighed and sat down behind the crate. </p>
<p>"We lost." </p>
<p>Rex grabbed the radio and looked back at Blackout and Spark. They'd been covered in red paint from head to toe, laying completely still on the floor. But if you looked closely, you could see both of them taking short, irregular breaths. </p>
<p>"Cereal Legion, retreat. I repeat, retreat." </p>
<p>They quickly got back to the door where they had came from originally, keeping their heads low again and avoiding any shots if possible. Rex really didn't want to leave his men behind, but he had to. They couldn't risk losing more men. </p>
<p>What happened between Blackout and Spark, Rex couldn't hear what they said, but it hit him right in the guts. He felt almost guilty, as they made their way back to Director's Office. He'd been keeping his feelings to himself for God knows how long and he'd be better off, if he would just tell Cody. But that was what scared him, what if he didn't like him back? Rex didn't want to put their friendship at risk. He sighed to himself, as he got up the stairs. This was way more difficult than it should be.</p>
<p>-</p>
<p>The Medical Center was very quiet, even with dozens of clones in it. The 'dead' were put into the back of the center, behind closed doors. And if there weren't so many people here, the big room looked almost comfy. The beds had been moved closer together, so that one could barely fit in between them. Pillows and blankets had been laid out on the floor, as the beds were all already occupied. There was really not a lot of space to move, and Kix and the nurses always had a lot of trouble getting around. But it was for immersion.</p>
<p>Blackout looked around the room, trying to spot Spark between all those faces. They were only a few hours in the battle, the center was already almost filled to the brim. It would get much more crowded in the future. </p>
<p>They'd been giving more comfortable clothing, too. Well, most of the clones just asked Boro and Patch to get something from their quarters. But they tried to give everyone just a pair of shorts and a shirt, so they didn't have to move through the whole station every time. Especially if they were at risk of getting hit with paint. </p>
<p>Blackout moved up from his blanket, when he spotted Spark, sitting on blanket as well, between Contrail and Swoop. He was staring at the floor, and Blackout couldn't quiet make out how he was feeling. But he wanted to make sure he was okay, especially after the emotional rollercoaster from half an hour ago. </p>
<p>He sat down in front of Spark, cross-legged to make more room for the others in the center. He didn't say anything at first, but after a few moments, Spark looked at him. </p>
<p>Blackout opened his mouth, but didn't know what to say. Well, he wanted to say many, many different things, but he didn't know <em>how.</em><br/>
Spark seemed to have the same problem and for a while, they were just staring at each other. Blackout then reached for the Spark's hand, and he took it. He rubbed his thumb over the back of his palm, and Spark then interlocked their fingers. They sat in that position for a while, until Spark slowly pulled his hand back to rest them on Blackout's face, just like he had done to him back in Takeoff. </p>
<p>The kiss was short, but it meant so much to each of them. It felt like something they both had needed, but didn't know they had needed until this very moment. Blackout couldn't stop his hands from trembling, as he tried to hold onto Spark, and moved them into another kiss. This kiss was longer, there was more passion behind it. And Blackout couldn't imagine something that would feel better than this. Spark's lips were <em>so soft</em> and his body felt so warm to his. Spark moved them closer together, his hands on the back of Blackout's head. </p>
<p>They parted, and had already forgotten about everyone around them. If it was only the other way around, too.</p>
<p>"Aww." </p>
<p>They both quickly turned their head around and instinctively moved a few inches away from each other. </p>
<p>Swoop was staring at them, and his face could be compared to someone who had just watched a bunch of kittens play with a ball of wool. But he wasn't the only one who had been watching them. Rest of Blue Squad had gathered behind and next to him. They all had similar expressions on their faces. </p>
<p>"You owe me 10 credits." </p>
<p>Blackout and Spark turned around again. Broadside was holding his hand out to Contrail.</p>
<p>"Dude, we don't even get paid."</p>
<p>"Well, I know you'll find a way around that. Don't think I'll forget." </p>
<p>Contrail sighed, as Broadside laid back next to him.</p>
<p>Spark and Blackout looked at each other for a second and then decided to move back to Blackout's blanket. </p>
<p>-</p>
<p>"That's... not good."</p>
<p>"That's all you have to say about it? All of my men are dead!" </p>
<p>Odd Ball was fuming, his hands were balled into fists and he had Cody with the back against a wall. </p>
<p>"You'll get transferred to Appo's unit." </p>
<p>The pilot sighed heavily and threw his hands up in the air. </p>
<p>"You treat this if it's like-... I-... You-..." He searched for words, but the only thing escaping his mouth was a stutter. Odd Ball hated it, how he always seemed to forget how to speak when he gets angry. Sighing, he slapped the wall right next to Cody's head, making him flinch, but then walked back. </p>
<p>"Fine." The pilot left the office. He shot Vaughn a glance as well, maybe if he'd actually showed up they wouldn't have lost. Without men to lead it was obvious that he'd be demoted the rank of commander. Means, there was nothing for him left to do in their HQ. </p>
<p>Cody took a deep breath and moved away from the wall. He noticed Rex' slightly worried gaze on him. It made him get a weird feeling in his stomach, that he couldn't quiet describe, but it was probably better to not adress it.</p>
<p>"I'd guess the Milk Battalion only attacked us at Takeoff because we were outnumbered. Or simply because they just could," he explained and seemed to disregard the situation with Odd Ball completely. He was known for losing his temper once in a while, and Cody made sure to always remember that this was only a game, no matter how serious everyone might take it.</p>
<p>"Where do you think they are gonna strike next?" Appo asked, taking a step forward, but Cody just shrugged. He didn't know what strategy Bacara had in mind, but he guessed they would try to take the Lobby, and then their HQ. </p>
<p>"I don't know. But I want people guarding every access point to the Lobby, where the Milk Battalion could come from."</p>
<p>Cody looked around the room and fidgeted with his hands, while he thought about how he would distribute his men. He needed Fox and the rest of the Guard, so they had more firepower in the Battles themselves. One person alone could secure the Security Department, they just had to be competent enough. In the end, he chose Colt for that job.</p>
<p>"Appo, tell Colt to position himself in the Security Department." </p>
<p>Appo frowned, which was hard to tell with everything that was covering his face.</p>
<p>"Can we really manage without him? He is one of our best men."</p>
<p>The rest of the commanders agreed. Colt was one of, if not the best of their men when it came to handling a firearm. He knew what he was doing, more than everyone else in Security. And because the enemy had Havoc and Blitz on their side, they couldn't really afford to put Colt on hold. </p>
<p>"But I need the Guard to, well, guard the hallway to Takeoff. And I need more people to guard the stairwells and the elevator, and the other hallways. We can't afford to give them the advantage of the cams. ... Colt could take out everyone who tries to get in," Cody explained himself and Appo seemed to think for a moment, and then nodded. He turned around and got on his radio. </p>
<p>Cody ordered Waxer and his men to leave the Crew Quarters, to secure the stairwells and hallways. From above, you could see Waxer's orange colored armor walking through the Lobby, pointing in different directions and his men splitting up to the different doors and entrances. Just as he was about to develop a strategy for an attack on their side, his radio made a noise, because of course it did. </p>
<p>"Commander! We need help down here!" </p>
<p>It was Ponds, and he sounded very distressed. You could here shots in the background. </p>
<p>Cody looked at the commanding officers. </p>
<p>"Rex, you go with Vaughn," he ordered and they both saluted and went out the door. </p>
<p>-</p>
<p>
  <strong>Act 5: The Blackout</strong>
</p>
<p>Colt looked at the different screens, that were hanging on one of the walls of the surveillance room. He didn't quite get why Cody insisted on defending this room. Most of the cameras didn't even show something, the screens were almost completely dark. </p>
<p>He frowned and looked towards the exit of the Security Department, and then back at the screens. Were they dark before? Did Cody know that most of them didn't even show something? Maybe he should tell him.</p>
<p>Colt closed the door to the surveillance room behind him and was about to leave the Securith Department, when to clones suddenly bursted through the door. They pointed their pistols at Colt, who in returned, raised his own pistols as well. It didn't take him long to recognize Havoc and Blitz, even though they were wearing the generic armor of the Milk Battalion. </p>
<p>None of them said anything for a moment, they just stood in front of each other, their fingers were resting beside the trigger of their pistols. </p>
<p>"We guessed you'd be in here," Havoc said. </p>
<p>"Rys told us," Blitz added.</p>
<p>Colt frowned. Why would Rys, of all people, know about his location? But then it clicked, Rys was from IT. He could probably hack the cams or something, and the Security Department had cameras as well.</p>
<p>"And why are you here?" He asked, and slowly moved to the side, so that he was standing behind a desk, to take cover if necessary. Blitz and Havoc did the same, guns still raised. </p>
<p>"We wanted to take your advantage away," Blitz explained. </p>
<p>"And to eliminate you," Havoc added. </p>
<p>Colt huffed in disbelief. They wanted to eliminate him? </p>
<p>"You don't have to, you can still leave if you want to. We don't have to kill each other," he tried to persuade them. </p>
<p>"Sorry, but we can't let someone like you live."</p>
<p>"You have the highest kill count of any of your legion. You're too dangerous to be left alive," Blitz hissed and took a step forward, to give his words more emphasis.</p>
<p>"I might," Colt admitted. "But you can't possibly want to eliminate me. We're brothers! We've been on this station together for so many years." </p>
<p>Havoc looked away for a second, as if he was seriously considering to lower his pistols. As if he heard something in Colt's voice that made him reconsider his actions. Blitz didn't though, kept his eyes focused on the other Weapon Specialist. </p>
<p>"We <em>were</em> together. But since Hammer's gone it isn't the same anymore," Blitz said. </p>
<p>"Don't start talking about Hammer!" </p>
<p>They hadn't talked about Hammer since he got departed. He was together with them, until... </p>
<p>"Do you really believe that?" Havoc asked and turned to look at Blitz, who was lowering his gaze. </p>
<p>"It's just... It hasn't been the same since he left." </p>
<p>Slowly, they started to lower their guns. First Havoc, then Colt, and at the end, Blitz put his pisolts away, too. Without further words, they got together and hugged. </p>
<p>They stood there for a while in silence, arms around each other. Then they collectively decided, that they would leave the game. They were way too good with the guns than anyone else anyway, so they were basically an unfair advantage.</p>
<p>Colt shot Havoc in his chest, and then Blitz. He grabbed one of their pistols, to shoot himself and then they all went to the Medical Center.</p>
<p>They got there pretty fast and Boro had immediately shoved pieces of clean clothing into their hands. Then he'd ordered them to go to the back of the Center, and try to find an empty spot. </p>
<p>While they were talking to the other 'dead' clones, the power suddenly went out. Nobody said a thing, but then it went back on again. </p>
<p>"Weird," Colt had said. </p>
<p>-</p>
<p>"We should stay away from the cafeteria. Cooker shoots at everything that moves. ... I wonder how he got that good with a sniper rifle anyway," Rex reported, as they were sitting in the Lobby. </p>
<p>A lot of their men were injured, with gunshot wounds on their legs and arms. Kix had gone out of his way to patch them up in the Lobby, rather than in the Medical Center. Because, due to Rule 1, every wound has to be treated like a real one, and Jesse and Hardcase made it their goal to be as theatrical as possible, especially with Kix around. </p>
<p>Koho and Roric got injured as well, and sadly, Denal got shot in the head. Patch had carried him to the Medical Center. Even worse, Ponds didn't make it, too. Was taken off guard by Cooker and got shot perfectly in the chest, he died immediately. Which also meant, Odd Ball got his rank of commander back.</p>
<p>"It didn't seem like they were operating under Bacara's command, though," Jesse said between clenched teeth, as he pretended to be in pain, when Kix rubbed the paint off his leg. </p>
<p>"Yeah, it was just the cooks in the cafeteria," Fives confirmed, who was sitting with them. </p>
<p>"They probably just wanted us away," Echo added.</p>
<p>Cody nodded, had his arms crossed in front of his chest, and sighed.</p>
<p>"We shouldn't have lost Ponds like this," he murmured and felt Rex lay a hand on his shoulder. </p>
<p>"He died a honorable death," Fives reassured, and leaned a bit towards Cody, but didn't make any physical contact. </p>
<p>"Don't forget about Denal," Roric mentioned. There was a slight undertone in his voice. </p>
<p>"Of course not."</p>
<p>They were quiet for a second, Cody thought about what to do next. Should they launch an attack? After what happened in the cafeteria? Try to push the enemy back? Instead of waiting for the enemy to make the first move? </p>
<p>But where?</p>
<p>He needed a map of station to better visualize everything. While, yes, he knew the station by heart, but he had always trouble to visualize his thoughts properly and a map would definitely help him.</p>
<p>Cody turned to look at Rex, who had started a conversation with Kix, Jesse and Hardcase. They were talking about something regarding the Security Department, while Jesse and Hardcase were still holding on to their imaginary pain. Cody got his attention with a light pad on his shoulder, and the other director turned around. </p>
<p>Cody leaned in, maybe a little too close.</p>
<p>"Does Security have a map of the station?"</p>
<p>Rex frowned and tilted his head a bit to the side, while he thought.</p>
<p>"I don't know. Probably," he replied and then turned around to look at Jesse and Hardcase.</p>
<p>"Do we have a map of the station somewhere?" </p>
<p>"Pfff... We have a lot of maps," Hardcase answered and turned his head to look at the hallway that would lead to their department.</p>
<p>"We have one in the surveillance room," Jesse answered and watched Kix cleaning the last bits of paint from his leg.</p>
<p>Cody simply nodded and got on his radio. He wanted to contact Colt, as he was currently inside the surveillance room, and he could probably get them a datapad with the map on it.</p>
<p>"Colt? Colt, do you copy?" </p>
<p>No reply. </p>
<p>The chatter stopped and everyone was now looking at Cody, well, rather his radio.</p>
<p>"Colt? Do you hear me?"</p>
<p>Still no reply and Cody began to worry. He looked at Rex for a second, who also looked at him in return. </p>
<p>It didn't take long for Cody to stand up and sprint to the Security Department. Rex followed him, almost on instinct.</p>
<p>-</p>
<p>When they got there, the department was empty, as if no one had been here. There wasn't even paint on the floor or on the walls, so Colt couldn't have possibly been attacked. Did he just leave on his own?</p>
<p>"Colt?" Cody asked into the empty room, but it was silent. There was no one here.</p>
<p>Cody kept looking for a second, and then put his rifle away. He made a short gesture with his hand, signaling Rex to come with him, which he did.<br/>
He opened the room the surveillance room and the very first thing he noticed was, that half the screens weren't showing any pictures. Just a black screen. </p>
<p>Frowning, he looked at Rex. </p>
<p>"Is that... Is that supposed to be like that?" he asked and pointed at one of the black screens. He has been in this room only once or twice, and if you thought back to the power problem that Water Management was facing, it might be a 'normal' occurrence that screens would just black out. Just like it was 'normal' for Water Management to be working in complete darkness. </p>
<p>But Rex shook is head.</p>
<p>"No, it's not. Why would you assume that anyway?" </p>
<p>Cody looked at him. He had never told Rex about the Water Management problem. Well, he wanted to. But when he went out of his way to talk to Rex, he found out that Crys, one of his men, had killed CT-2911, another one of his men. Things went down from there, so Cody never bothered to mention the issue again. Maybe he should have, but it kind of went under his radar for a while. </p>
<p>God, he was a terrible director. How could he just <em>forget</em> about the conditions his men were facing during work? </p>
<p>"I... I don't know. I mean-" Cody sighed and then shook his head. He could talk about this later, Colt was the priority right now.</p>
<p>He stepped forward and looked down at the monitor that was used to manage the security footage. It required log-in information, that Cody did not possess, so he looked around at Rex, who hadn't moved since he had asked Cody about why he would assume, that it was normal that their tech didn't work. He squinted at Cody, but then moved next to him to type in the log-in information.</p>
<p>He selected a few different files and then clicked on the footage that the cams in Security had recorded this day. Rex fast-forwarded and stopped, when the tape showed Colt stepping out of the surveillance room. He let the tape play with normal speed. </p>
<p>Both of them frowned at what the tape had to show. </p>
<p>"Blitz and Havoc where here?" Cody asked, when both of them stepped into the field of view of the camera. </p>
<p>"Apparently."</p>
<p>They both continued watching, and Cody tilted his head to the side, when the tape didn't play any sound.</p>
<p>"Is it muted?" He asked and turned to Rex.</p>
<p>"We don't record with sound."</p>
<p>Cody was about to say something, but the monitor caught his attention again, when he saw the Weapon Specialists lowering their guns. They looked like they were visibly distressed. And then, they hugged. Before Cody could say anything, the three of them shot each other and then left the department. Rex stopped the tape and stepped back.</p>
<p>They didn't say anything for a moment.</p>
<p>"I... I knew that they were close. But I didn't know that they were <em>this</em> close," Rex murmured, as he stared at the monitor. </p>
<p>Cody looked at Rex for a second but quickly lowered his gaze. Instead of addressing what the tape had just showed them, he thought about Blitz', Colt's and Havoc's relationship. If they were together, or just really good friends. He couldn't help himself but compare them to him and Rex, an it pushed him into a spiral of doubt and insecurity. </p>
<p>But before he could start to focus on those thoughts, he turned back to Rex.</p>
<p>"Can- Can they do that?" Cody asked, focusing back on the actual reason they came here. </p>
<p>"Well, they are not breaking any rules." </p>
<p>"... So... What now?" </p>
<p>Just as the words left Cody's mouth, the department went dark. </p>
<p>-</p>
<p>"Dude, hold the light still."</p>
<p>Multiple beams of bright, white lights flashed through the Lobby, as the small group of clones rushed to their commanders. The group consisted of Sketch, Jester and Chopper, as well as Fives and Echo. The first three had been already on their way to Cargo Bay when the light went out, but Appo had insisted that Fives and Echo would go with them. Just in case. </p>
<p>"Do you guys even know how light works? Gimme that," Redeye complained and snatched one of the flashlights from Fives' hand, when he tried to place it on the ground and moved it, to let it shine directly into the face's of everyone else. </p>
<p>"Oh, I'm sorry that I'm not a physician like you. Show me how it's done, will you?" Fives snapped back, but let Redeye place the flashlight on one of the red-painted crates, so that it was facing upwards. And, he had to admit, it was way more effective than his previous strategy. </p>
<p>Redeye took the other flashlights from Fives and went around the Lobby, to lighten the rest of the room. Mixer, another physician, helped him. </p>
<p>"Where are Rex and Cody?" Echo asked Appo, as he handed his flashlights to Mixer and then sat down next to him. Appo just shrugged and turned his head towards the door that would lead to the Security Department, as if he expected them to walk out of there any moment now. But they didn't, the door didn't move.</p>
<p>Fives joined them, sat next to Echo and there was a slight smirk on his face, barely visible in the dim light. </p>
<p>"I can already guess what they're up to. You know, it's dark, no one's around..." </p>
<p>"What do you mean?" Appo asked, completely oblivious. </p>
<p>"Well, you can't deny there's <em>something</em> going on between them. Like, how they always look at each other," Fives elaborated further, while he was making gestures with his hands. Echo nodded with agreement. </p>
<p>"And how they act around each other," he added and looked at Appo, who just frowned. He hadn't noticed anything. For him it just seemed like they were close friends. They shared the same rank and had always been the directors of their respective stations, it was obvious they would share a close relationship. </p>
<p>The opening of a door caught their attention. The three of them turned their head around, and, speak of the devil, Rex and Cody entered the Lobby. </p>
<p>"Oh, hello there," Fives greeted them and waved them over. </p>
<p>"Colt is not with you?" Appo stood up, and Echo and Fives followed his example. The directors stopped in front of them.</p>
<p>"It's kind of hard to explain," Cody replied and then turned his attention to the others in the Lobby. It looked like all of the Cereal Legion had gathered here. They were sitting together in small groups, scattered across the entire floor. In spite of the darkness, he could see tiny bits of red paint on some of his men. On their arms, their legs and caps. </p>
<p>"Hey Rex," he said, not turning his head away from them, but laying a hand on Rex' shoulder. An affirmative noise from Rex let him now that he heard him.<br/>
"I... I'm gonna check on them real quick." Cody looked at Rex for a second, but quickly turned around again and left their little group. He doesn't really know, why he wanted to make sure that every single one of his men was okay.  It felt like he was obligated to it, like it was his duty. </p>
<p>Rex watched him leave, kneeling beside a group of clones that was sitting next to a table that had been turned around. He didn't recognize them, they weren't with the Safety Ordnance nor the Life Provision. </p>
<p>He didn't notice the looks Fives and Echo gave each other. </p>
<p>"So? Rex? What happened?" Appo's voice caught Rex' attention. His head turned towards the commander.</p>
<p>"Um... Well, as Cody said, it's a quiet complicated situation. ... Anyway, I think we should focus on the fact, that the lights went out." </p>
<p>"Yeah, about that..." </p>
<p>Rex felt a little tap on his shoulder. Not Cody, the touch was way too short and too light to be from him. He turned around and even though the clone was wearing the cap, the balaclava and the eye protection, Rex recognized that he was from Power Management. Deviss, Energetic Technology. Cody had told him about him. </p>
<p>"Flash and I have come to the conclusion that the light circuit was shut down. Probably by Bly or Inc, as they are the only ones who know how to properly do that. ... Otherwise gravity would be gone, too. And climate regulation, probably. Anyone who doesn't know what they're doing would've cut that power, too, as they're tied together in a way and- Ah, sorry. Didn't mean to start rambling." Deviss looked Rex with kind of an apologetic look, and turned his head to the side. </p>
<p>"So it was done on purpose?" Appo asked.</p>
<p>"Yes." </p>
<p>"Great, first those grenades and now they're turning off the lights," Fives murmured. "What are they gonna do next? Open all the airlocks?" </p>
<p>"Well, it's obvious that we have to get back at them." </p>
<p>They all turned their heads as Wolffe approached them, the rest of the Wolfpack was right behind him. </p>
<p>"Oohh, it's the Wolfpack. Woof, woof." Fives snickered.</p>
<p>"Rare sight seeing you outside the tunnels," Echo added. Wolffe just glared at them, but then turned his attention to Rex. </p>
<p>"We could track them down and eliminate half of their men without them even noticing," he explained. </p>
<p>Rex thought about it. If he was correct, Wolffe had made a similar proposal after the the Lobby Battle, but Cody had answered that he didn't want them to. And during Takeoff they didn't help him that much, either. He thought back to Blackout and Spark. Maybe if the Wolfpack actually did something they wouldn't have died. </p>
<p>"I'm not the marshall commander," he simply answered and let his gaze search through the clones in the Lobby. He first thought he had spotted Cody's bright orange armor, but he quickly realized that it was Waxer's, and not their commanders. </p>
<p>"If I think back to Takeoff, it seems more likely that you're gonna get killed than take out even one of their men," Fives noticed and Boost took a step forward. </p>
<p>"We were in an awful position! You wouldn't have done it better," he hissed.</p>
<p>"You literally had the high ground!" Echo moved next to Fives. </p>
<p>Domino and the Wolfpack started arguing, getting into each other's personal space and shoving the others back. Rather than try to stop them, Rex and Appo took a step back. Everyone knew about the slight rivalry both squads had with each other. In the rare cases the Wolfpack was out of the tunnels, they usually spend their time picking on Domino Squad and the other way around. They don't really have a reason <em>why</em> they're always doing this, but everyone kind of accepted as a thing that just happens sometimes. Like right now. </p>
<p>The only exception though, was Cody. No one messes with Cody (except the cooks, but they mess with everyone). Cody was the only one they listened to, which is solely because of one singular occurrence. </p>
<p>The Wolfpack and Domino Squad were arguing in the cafeteria about something minor, and Cody had been around as well. While everyone stayed out of their conflict, like usual, Cosy stepped in and threatened them to move them to different departments. Of course they didn't believe him, and as soon as they thought he was out of hearing range, they were at it again. It was Cooker who had contacted Cody through the comm and told him, that they had ignored him. And after a short explanation from Cooker that they were doing this all the time, Cody had managed to convince the station directors to put everyone in a different department.</p>
<p>For a week, Comet was the only one present in the tunnels. Wolffe and Warthog had been sent to support the gardeners, and Sinker and Boost had to help out the IT Department. Fives was put into Cargo Bay, Echo in Communication, Hevy in IT, Cutup in Water Management and Droidbait got to help the Mechanical Laboratory in Outside Maintenance. In the span of one week he had done more than 10 EVA's, even though General Security didn't get trained in EVA's. </p>
<p>After the week was over, they were put back into their original departments and because it had been such a horrible experience for everyone involved, they never argued in front of Cody again. </p>
<p>And they immediately stopped when Cody approached them. </p>
<p>"What is going on?" </p>
<p>Neither Domino Squad nor the Wolfpack met his gaze. They all just kind of looked away, at the floor or at the wall.<br/>
Rex stepped forward, next to Cody. </p>
<p>"Wolffe told me that he and the pack could take out half of the men from Milk Battalion if they wanted to," he explained and Cody turned around to look at him. </p>
<p>"Without them even noticing," Fives added. </p>
<p>"And what happened then?" </p>
<p>"Then Fives and Echo... <em>criticized</em> their performance in Takeoff and the Wolfpack defended themselves." </p>
<p>"They insulted each other?" </p>
<p>"... Yes." </p>
<p>Cody sighed and looked back at Domino and the Wolfpack, who were still trying to avoid his gaze. </p>
<p>"I appreciate your ambition, Wolffe. But it would be too much of a risk. We should prioritize in getting our lights back."</p>
<p>Wolffe just nodded and didn't say anything else. </p>
<p>"Do you already have a strategy in mind?" Appo asked, who stood on the other side from Cody. </p>
<p>"I do, actually."</p>
<p>-</p>
<p>"I'm gonna fall."</p>
<p>"Sshh!"</p>
<p>The four of them, Cody, Rex, Fives and Echo, made their way down a stairwell. They couldn't use the elevator, it would have been to obvious. And it probably didn't work anyway. But it was kind of hard to go down all of those stairs in almost complete darkness. A few little lights of different colors were scattered across the walls. But their purpose was rather showing the staff if everything was working correctly, instead of actually lighten up the place. But it was good for orientation.</p>
<p>"Can we really not just turn on the flashlights?" Fives whispered.</p>
<p>"No. We don't want to be seen. Now, stay quiet," Rex answered. He was just behind Cody, who was leading their small team.</p>
<p>Fives listened to Rex' order and stayed quiet for the rest of the way. They had to trust Cody on this one, as he was the one who spend the most time down here. He could probably find his way around blind anyway. </p>
<p>They quietly moved further, until Cody suddenly stopped and Rex bumped into him, which then caused Fives to bump into him, and then Echo into him.</p>
<p>"Watch it!" Echo hissed and smacked Fives on the shoulder. </p>
<p>"Sshh!" </p>
<p>Cody looked down the long hallway they were standing in front of. It led to the generator room, from which Power Management usually operates from. But it also leads to both the Mechanical Laboratory and Biomechanics. They'd have to move quick and quiet. He had a feeling that the enemy is close, but besides them, no one was around. </p>
<p>He pressed himself against the wall and moved down the hallway, holding his rifle tight. Cody was ready shoot, even if he could barely see anything. But he knew exactly where he was, he had gone through this hallway so many times, it would be a surprise if he didn't. </p>
<p>"Shouldn't the emergency lights have gone on already?" </p>
<p>"Looks like they were cut, too." </p>
<p>Cody could imagine how badly Rex wanted to punch Fives and Echo. </p>
<p>"Can you two keep your mouth shut already?" </p>
<p>Cody stopped in his tracks, when the surface under his hand changed. Instead of the smooth material that their walls were made of, he was touching a rough metal surface. A door. They all bumped into each other again. It would be way easier if Cody could just use hand signs.<br/>
The director of Life Provision turned around, he could barely make out the outlines of the others. In this moment, they all looked even more similar than they normally did. </p>
<p>"Do you know how to clear a room?" he asked them, keeping his voice low. </p>
<p>"We could ask you the same thing," Fives replied. </p>
<p>Cody sighed and could basically feel Rex roll his eyes. </p>
<p>"And have you ever been in the generator room?" </p>
<p>"No," they all answered in union. Cody should have expected that. Well, he did expect it from Fives and Echo, but Rex? He couldn't imagine that he had spend so much time on this station already, but had never once been inside the generator room. While he wanted to discuss that further, this wasn't exactly the right moment.</p>
<p>"There are four big generators in each corner, but there's not enough space between them and the walls to hide in there. There's also a big, mostly empty spot in the middle and there's a staircase on the left side, which leads to a catwalk that goes around all four walls. So, watch above you," Cody tried his best to explain and was about to turn around again.</p>
<p>"Also, watch for cables on the floor," he quickly added, before he moved to the other side of the door, because that's where the panel to open it was located. </p>
<p>"Okay, ready?" Cody didn't wait for an answer.</p>
<p>"Go."</p>
<p>The door opened and they all entered the room one by one, guns raised. Cody immediately checked in between each generator and could see how Fives checked above them. While the room was kind of large, they had it cleared quickly, as they were few spaces to properly hide. </p>
<p>"Where do the doors lead to?" Echo asked, as Cody was already on one of the computers that were located right next to the generators. </p>
<p>"One leads to Bly's office, another to a storage room and the last to the Reactor Room," Cody muttered and tried to access the power distribution. </p>
<p>"And you didn't bother to tell us that?" Fives got a little louder, which earned him another "Sshh!" from Rex. </p>
<p>"Then go check!" </p>
<p>Cody didn't pay too much attention to them, just heard the doors open and close again. Who ever shut the lights off, Bly or Inc, had tried to block access from these computers. But they couldn't block Cody's admin code, which eventually got him into the system. Sometimes it just pays off to be a director. A few clicks, some typing and the lights were on again. But Cody looked a little more into it. Looks like they let the Medical Center stay bright. Fair enough, they were neutral ground after all. But other than that, they let the rest of the station in complete darkness. Well, it was very hard to shut the light off in only some parts of the station, Medical Center probably had cost them enough time and they didn't want to risk to get ambushed... </p>
<p>Cody frowned. Wait. </p>
<p>It had already cost them some time to get the Medical Center back online, and it would have been more time, if they tried to bring other departments online as well. And they expected them to get down here sooner or later, that's why they didn't want to stay here, they would've been to vulnerable. There was neither enough cover in this room, nor than in the hallway that lead to it. Space was also an issue, the hallways were way too narrow and tight for a proper gunfight. </p>
<p>Cody looked around the room.</p>
<p>But if they expected them, why was nothing in here? No troops, not even a trap. As if they just completely abandoned the generators. </p>
<p>He looked back at the computer. They had tried to lock him out. If Cody didn't have his admin rights, he would have had to use Bly's computer.</p>
<p>Cody turned around and looked at the door that would lead to Bly's office. Echo was standing right in front of it and soon disappeared behind it.</p>
<p>Then it dawned on him.</p>
<p>But before he could properly react, there was an explosion coming right out of Bly's office. Fives was the first to react.</p>
<p>"Echo!" </p>
<p>Cody just watched him sprint towards the door and then stopping right in the door frame. Rex and Cody slowly moved forward and stopped right behind Fives. </p>
<p>The office was dark and completely covered in red paint. If you looked closely, you could see Echo's red stained body laying right next to the desk. </p>
<p>"No, no, no, no," Fives muttered as he moved next to Echo, kneeling down in the wet paint. He turned him around, grabbed his upper body and pulled him close.</p>
<p>Cody couldn't help himself but feel guilty. He should've known better. It was just too easy, he should've known something was off. And now Echo was dead. He didn't die in a fight, he didn't die an honorable death. He got killed by a fucking <em>trap.</em></p>
<p>"We have to leave." </p>
<p>Rex had laid a hand on Cody's shoulder. </p>
<p>"No! No, I can't leave him here." </p>
<p>"It's only a matter of time until they come here to check," Rex insisted, but Fives was having none of it.</p>
<p>"I won't leave him behind!" </p>
<p>"Don't think it's easy for us either." </p>
<p>Rex had flashbacks to Takeoff. Blackout had the exact same expression in his face when Spark had died in his arms. Fives wasn't crying, but they were visible tears forming in his eyes. </p>
<p>He got up eventually, after Cody had said that he didn't want to make it an order. Fives apologized to Echo. That he couldn't bring him to the Medical Center himself and that he would win this battle, for him. For the rest of Domino. </p>
<p>And then they left. </p>
<p>You could call the mission a success, if the lights didn't start to flicker again when they got to the Lobby.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hope you enjoyed the first half of the most serious game of paintball. </p>
<p>Second part is in work, don't worry. </p>
<p>Also, if anyone has a good idea on how to call this AU, let me know, otherwise I'll just go with my own boring one lmao</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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